Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc is back to investigate another suspenseful whodunit in GLASS ONION. Director Rian Johnson’s sequel to his hit 2019 murder mystery KNIVES OUT is arriving in theaters on November 23, making it a perfect addition to your holiday plans (or a good excuse to step away for an afternoon). Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about GLASS ONION before it hits the big screen.
The Knives Are Out Again
Fresh off directing STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, Rian Johnson cooked up an immensely satisfying murder mystery with 2019’s KNIVES OUT. Johnson recruited James Bond star Daniel Craig to headline the star-studded ensemble as Benoit Blanc, a brilliant and somewhat eccentric southern detective called in to investigate the possible murder of a wealthy patriarch played by Christopher Plummer.
Like the best classic detective stories, everyone in KNIVES OUT was a suspect—and there were a lot of suspects to choose from: Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, and Jaeden Martell were among the family members questioned by Blanc (with an assist from a pair of police officers played by Lakeith Stanfield and Noah Segan). If you haven’t seen KNIVES OUT, you still have plenty of time to catch up with this comedic thriller before the sequel arrives.
From 007 to Diligent Detective
A British actor known best for playing the modern 007 in James Bond movies from CASINO ROYALE to NO TIME TO DIE, Daniel Craig has become synonymous with his sophisticated on-screen alter-ego. In recent years, however, Craig has delighted in challenging audience expectations, starting with 2017’s LOGAN LUCKY. Steven Soderbergh’s comedic crime caper starred Craig as an intimidating safe-cracker who helps a pair of brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) plan a major heist.
Set in West Virginia, LOGAN LUCKY gave Craig the opportunity to polish his southern accent as a career criminal. That accent work came in handy for 2019’s KNIVES OUT, which put Craig on the right side of the law as an eccentric detective tasked with navigating a contentious family tree to solve a murder mystery—and he’ll do it all again in GLASS ONION.
Who’s Who in the New Whodunit
Detective Blanc returns this winter to investigate the murder of a tech billionaire in GLASS ONION. In the grand tradition of classic detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, Blanc will be faced with an all-new mystery and an entirely new cast of characters.
Edward Norton plays Miles Bron, the billionaire at the heart of GLASS ONION’s murder mystery. The suspects include Janelle Monáe as Andi, a tech entrepreneur and Miles’s former business partner, Ethan Hawke as Miles’s assistant, and Leslie Odom Jr. ("Hamilton") as a scientist who works for Miles’s company. Also on the suspect list are the great Kathryn Hahn (“WandaVision,” STEP BROTHERS) as an ambitious politician, Dave Bautista (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) as a YouTube personality and men’s rights activist, Madelyn Cline (“Stranger Things”) as his girlfriend, and Kate Hudson as a famous supermodel-turned-fashion designer named Birdie Jay.
GLASS ONION—which borrows its name from the classic Beatles song—boasts additional appearances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natasha Lyonne, and Hugh Grant, as well as famed concert cellist Yo-Yo Ma (yes, really!). The latest KNIVES OUT mystery also happens to feature the final film appearances of two recently departed icons: Angela Lansbury and Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim. Lansbury is remembered fondly for her starring role in “Murder, She Wrote,” which centered on the life of a mystery writer and sleuth, but she also starred in classic old Hollywood noir films such as GASLIGHT and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE—making her cameo in GLASS ONION a particularly awesome tribute.
GLASS ONION opens on November 23
All images courtesy of Netflix.