How to Watch Sherlock Holmes on Netflix in the US

Sherlock Holmes has one of the best portrayals of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective. It’s a new and interesting take that will leave wanting more (you’re in luck since it has a sequel, and a third movie is planned for 2021).

You probably already went ahead and looked it up on Netflix, but were bummed out you couldn’t find it. So does that mean you have to pay for Amazon Prime Video to watch it?

No, you don’t need to do anything so drastic and expensive. Sherlock Holmes is available on Netflix, but not in the US. Don’t take our word for it, though – find out more about that by following the link. It’s an online tool called StreamCatcher that tells you where Netflix titles are available. Just look up the movie and you’ll see you can’t watch it in the US.

It’s available in other countries, but why?

We’ll tell you everything you need to know in this quick five-minute article (yes, including how to unblock Sherlock Holmes in the US).

Why Doesn’t Netflix US Have Sherlock Holmes?

It’s due to licensing agreements, basically. Netflix doesn’t own the movie, so they had to license it from the copyright holder. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to secure rights for the US, just the countries you saw above.

Why?

Maybe because the copyright holder already sold the rights to other streaming sites and/or TV networks. You already know the movie is available on Amazon Prime Video, so maybe they own the licensing rights for the US.

There’s also a chance Netflix didn’t buy the rights even though they were available. Their analytics might have showed them that most of their target audience in the US wouldn’t be interested in the movie. Since they spend a lot of money on licensing content, they can’t really afford to make big investments that don’t generate positive ROIs.

Pretty unfair for you, we know, but you have to understand it’s just business. If Netflix were to go ahead with such a risky investment, they might lose money. Also, if they were to ignore the licensing agreement, they could end up being sued.

How to Unblock Sherlock Holmes on Netflix in the US

The solution is surprisingly simple – just use a VPN! It’s an online service that stops Netflix (and any other site) from seeing your geo-location. It does that by routing your traffic through a VPN server that sits between your device and Netflix, so that the site can’t see your IP address.

Basically, instead of this:

Your Device ISP Network Netflix

Your connection will look like this:

Your Device ISP Network VPN Server Netflix

Netflix will just think your traffic is coming from the VPN server. Because of that, it will only see the VPN’s IP address. Just use a server in a country where Sherlock Holmes is available (like Japan, the UK, or Belgium), and you’ll be able to watch the movie.

And using a Netflix VPN is very simple – it only takes a few minutes at most! You just subscribe to a provider, download the right app for your device, install it, run it, and use it to connect to a VPN server from a list. 

Can You Use Any VPN to Unblock Sherlock Holmes?

Not really. Netflix is pretty aggressive when it comes to detecting VPN IPs. When it catches you using one, you’ll end up on the Netflix proxy error page.

The only way to get rid of it is to disconnect from the VPN. Or, you know, use a VPN that can evade Netflix’s detection algorithms. To do that, a provider has to regularly refresh its servers’ IP addresses. You can find out more about those kinds of VPNs by using StreamCatcher. On top of telling you where Netflix titles are available, it also recommends the best Netflix VPNs on the market. 

How do you know you can trust StreamCatcher’s recommendations?

Simple – ProPrivacy owns the tool, so those suggestions are based on their data. Since they’re one of the biggest (if not the biggest) VPN review sites on the web, you can fully trust the recommended VPNs will work with Netflix.

5 Useful Tips to Optimize VPN Speeds

You can experience annoying slowdowns when using a VPN if your original speeds are low (like 30 Mbps or so). In that case, it’s not unusual for VPN speeds to dip under 25 Mbps. Nobody wants that to happen since those are the minimum speed requirements to enjoy Ultra HD streaming on Netflix.

If you need a way to speed up your VPN connection, we have your back. We’ll actually show you five ways to do that:

1. Don’t connect to servers that are too far away from you. Use nearby servers since it’ll take less time for data packets to travel between your device and the server (so you get better speeds). For example, if you live on the West Coast, you should use servers in Japan or Hong Kong instead of Israel or the UK.
2. OpenVPN is an excellent protocol, but it’s very resource-intensive. Use faster alternatives like L2TP/IPSec, IKEv2, and WireGuard. SoftEther is also fast, but it requires manual setup and most providers don’t offer it. Also, avoid PPTP since it’s very risky to use (the NSA can crack its encryption).
3. If you’re stuck with OpenVPN or insist on using it, make it run over UDP. That network protocol is less stable than TCP, but it’s much faster.
4. If split tunneling is available, use it to make the VPN only route Netflix traffic from the app or the browser you use with Netflix. The less data there is to encrypt and decrypt, the smoother your speeds will be.
5. Unblock Netflix over wired connections instead of WiFi since they’re faster. Or at least bring your device as close as you can to the router to get a strong signal.

The Bottom Line

Sherlock Holmes isn’t available on Netflix in the US, but you can easily unblock it with a VPN. If you know other ways to do that, please let us know in the comments below.