It’s quickly becoming quite clear thatKnives Out 2will carry over the tradition of featuring an impressive ensemble cast. Led by Daniel Craig as master detective Benoit Blanc, the original murder mystery movie was written and directed by Rian Johnson. After it was released to great critical and financial success in 2019, Netflix forked over more than $450 to secure the exclusive rights to twoKnives Outsequels to be written and directed by Johnson with Craig returning.
The next installment of the series continues Benoit Blanc’s adventures with the detective now investigating an all-new mystery with a totally different cast of characters. Recently, it was reported thatGuardians of the GalaxyandArmy of the DeadstarDave Bautista had joined the castin a main role. Now, a new report from Deadline reveals that Norton is a part of the ensemble as well, and with just three confirmed names so far, the A-list cast ofKnives Out 2is already very impressive.
Edward Nortonsigning on to the project could be an indicator that Johnson has a great idea in store forKnives Out 2. Perhaps infamously, Norton is known for his reluctance to accept certain roles if he’s not satisfied with the screenplay. This apprehension has paid off well for the most part, as his more recent performances in movies likeMoonrise Kingdom,The Grand Budapest Hotel, andBirdmanhave earned him great acclaim. More recently, Norton worked on Wes Anderson’s next movieThe French Dispatchwhich is due to be released this summer.
Whatever happens in the followup movie, we shouldn’t expectKnives Out 2to be a mere rehash of the first movie. It also appears to have little in common with the first installment beyond bringing back the main character. This is by design as Rian Johnson wants to have the new movie stand out on its own so much that he doesn’t even want to think of it asKnives Out 2.
“I’m actually writing anotherKnives Out,” said Johnson in Interview Magazine last year. “It’s been such a mindf**k, because I sat on the idea for the first one for 10 years. And with this one, I’m starting with a blank page. It’s not really aKnives Outsequel. I need to come up with a title for it so I can stop calling it ‘The Knives Out Sequel’ because it’s just Daniel Craig as the same detective with a totally new cast.”
The firstKnives Outfollowed super sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) investigating the murder of the patriarch of a wealthy, dysfunctional family. Along with Craig, the ensemble cast featured Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer. Ram Bergman produced the movie alongside Johnson, and the two will also produce the sequel.
Knives Out 2doesn’t yet have an official release date set atNetflix, but production is expected to start this summer in Greece. If you want to watch the originalKnives Outin the meantime, it’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. This news comes to us fromDeadline.
