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Daniel Craig‘s divisive southern drawl is returning to screens once again. The James Bond actor’s turn as Detective Benoit Blanc in the surprise hit thriller Knives Out stunned audiences when it was released back in 2019 and now, Netflix has confirmed the title and all-star cast for the follow-up whodunnit. Entitled Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the sequel will see Craig back on the case once more, this time taking his talents for deduction to the stunning islands of Greece.
RELATED: See how the first Knives Out film scored Daniel Craig a whopping USD$100 million in just one year.
Knives Out 2 Plot Synopsis
According to the official synopsis, Knives Out 2 once again tackles the fabled murder mystery genre, but there is a host of new faces joining the ensemble cast. Where the original film starred a who’s who of Hollywood elites, from Chris Evans and Ana De Armas to Jamie-Lee Curtis and Christopher Plummer, Glass Onion introduces fans to an equally prestigious cast and crew.
Academy Award nominee Edward Norton plays tech billionaire Miles Bron, who invites some of his nearest and dearest for a getaway on his private Greek island, however, it soon becomes clear that all is not perfect in paradise. When a party member turns up dead, Benoit Blanc is called in to “peel back the layers of intrigue”. Joining him will be Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn (Private Life), Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick (The Gray Man), Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), with Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista (Army of the Dead).
Importantly, director Rian Johnson confirmed that the new sequel will dive a little deeper into the psychology of Daniel Craig‘s Benoit Blanc character, which stunned audiences and captivated viewers from the get-go. The Sherlock Homes-esque character, which reportedly netted Craig a cool USD$100 million, is set to play a more dominant role in Glass Onion, with Johnson revealing that the onus will shift slightly in Blanc’s favour.
“You definitely get to know him a little bit better,” Johnson told viewers at the TUDUM event. “In the first one, because of the way it was structured, Marta, Ana de Armas’ character, was very much the protagonist. In a big way, Blanc was the threat. He was almost the antagonist in terms of just the story structure, because you were worried, even as they got closer, that he was going to catch her and he was going to have to turn her over at the end. So Blanc was always outside of the sphere of our protagonist and was a little bit more of an enigma in the first movie. Whereas, in this one, Blanc gets an invitation to come to this murder mystery on this island. We’re very much meeting these people and getting into this world through his eyes.”
Glass Onion Setting
A different cast and murder also mean a different setting for the new film, which swaps the creaky Massachusetts mansion for a billionaire’s compound in Greece. Further playing off Johnson’s love affair with Agatha Christie, the exotic location harks back to the heyday of Detective Hercule Poirot investigation novels like Death on the Nile and The Murder on the Links. According to the filmmaker, he stumbled upon the perfect location — Villa 20 at the Amanzoe in Porto Heli, Greece – and knew immediately that it was the ideal location for a Christie-style murder mystery.
“There are absolutely some very clear inspirations that I took from it,” he says. “First of all, it’s structured around a group of friends, or frenemies, who all have a power dynamic with one of their successful friends. It begins with him sending an invitation for them to come and play this murder mystery game at this exotic locale. In The Last of Sheila, it’s on his yacht, and everything ends up going horribly wrong. That is essentially how Glass Onion begins.”
Knives Out 2 Title
Somewhat ironically, Johnson inadvertently went on to unravel another mystery that has been plaguing fans since Knives Out 2 was first announced – the name. According to the creator, the film’s title pays homage to the 1968 Beatles song of the same name. Speaking with Netflix, he revealed that he is always fishing for something fun that Blanc can grab onto as an overwrought metaphor. Remarkably, he found it in his own song library.
“This is all in plain sight from the very start,” he said. “So, the idea of glass came to me, something that’s clear. I’ll be very honest. I literally got out my iPhone and searched my music library with the word glass. “There’s got to be some good glass songs.” I was like, “Oh, is it a glass fortress? Is it a glass castle? Is it a glass man?” The first thing that came up, because I’m a huge Beatles fan, is ‘Glass Onion.’”
Knives Out 2 follows the successful formula that made the initial release such a breakthrough film, not to mention, scored Craig a massive USD$100 million salary. Taking inspiration from the Agatha Christie novels of old, with a healthy dose of humour thrown in, the original Knives Out saw Blanc hot on the trail of a vicious murder. When Harlan Thrombey, a reputable crime novelist was found dead after his 85th birthday celebration, his entire oddball family comes under suspicion, leading to an almost Cluedo-like journey through alibis and motives.
Starring an absolutely stacked cast that included Christopher Plummer, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon and Don Johnson, the thriller took the unassuming world by storm, and Glass Onion is looking to replicate the feat. Director Rian Johnson took to Twitter to confirm the highly anticipated sequel, dropping a quick teaser that showed off a formidable cast of A-listers.
Knives Out 2 Cast
For Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Daniel Graig will be joined by three-time Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, seminal musician Janelle Monáe, funny women Kathryn Hahn and Leslie Odom Jr., Game of Thrones star Jessica Henwick, Outer Banks‘ Madelyn Cline with Hollywood royalty Kate Hudson and Marvel favourite Dave Bautista. According to the official synopsis, the follow-up will see Detective Benoit Blanc travel to Greece to “peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colourful suspects”.
In a Twitter thread revealing the new title and information, Johnson expressed his admiration for Agatha Christie’s work, noting that while there is a formulaic aspect to a great mystery film, there must be surprises along the way.
“Something I love about Agatha Christie is how she never tread water creatively. I think there’s a misperception that her books use the same formula over and over, but fans know the opposite is true,” he said. “It wasn’t just settings or murder methods, she was constantly stretching the genre conceptually. Under the umbrella of the whodunnit she wrote spy thrillers, proto-slasher horrors, serial killer hunts, gothic romances, psychological character studies, glam travelogues. When I made Knives Out, that’s what excited me about the prospect of making more mysteries with Daniel as Benoit Blanc – to emulate Christie and have every film be like a whole new book, with its own tone, ambition, reason for being… and (ta dah) title.”
Knives Out 2 Release Date
The latest film in the Daniel Craig-led comedy thriller franchise will premiere on December 23, the streaming service confirmed at its TUDUM fan event. With Craig back on board and a host of famous faces joining him for the ride, the game is officially afoot. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will premiere in select theatres on a to-be-announced date and globally on Netflix on 23 December 2022.
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