Writer-director Rian Johnson says he would love to do a Knives Out sequel with Daniel Craig. Knives Out is one of this Thanksgiving's most anticipated releases after its screening at this year's Toronto Film Festival earned a standing ovation and extremely positive reviews. It currently boasts a 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and the Knives Out box office projections are looking good. The star-studded film is a classic whodunit mystery, as the affluent and dysfunctional Thrombey family gathers for their patriarch Harlan's (Christopher Plummer) birthday. When Harlan turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is brought in to investigate.
Also included in the stacked cast is Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford, Lakeith Stanfield, Toni Collette, and Ana de Armas. Johnson wrote the script in addition to directing; this is his first film following 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. At some point in the future, he's expected to return to the Star Wars universe to create a new trilogy. Knives Out is a return to original storytelling for him following his films Brick and Looper.
While speaking to Screen Rant at the Knives Out press junket, Johnson confessed his desire to revisit the character of Benoit Blanc with Craig in a potential sequel. He says:
I would love to. We'll see how this one does, you know. But if this movie does alright, if I can get together with Daniel every few years and do a new Benoit Blanc mystery? New location, new cast, new mystery. It’d be so much fun.
Johnson has previously talked about drawing his inspiration from Agatha Christie novels, and creating a sequel surrounding the central detective would certainly follow in her footsteps. Christie created the character Hercule Poirot and wrote 33 novels about him. Most recently, Poirot was brought to the big screen by Kenneth Branagh in 2017's Murder on the Orient Express and will appear next year in Death on the Nile. Detective Blanc could become a modern-day Poirot for moviegoers.
Early reviews of Knives Out have suggested it is a fun mystery filled with twists and turns. If audiences respond favorably to it and Johnson does create a sequel, it already has some big shoes to fill. The murder mystery premise, plus the presence of actors like Craig (just ahead of his last turn as James Bond) and Evans (in his biggest post-MCU role yet) will likely draw fans in. In an era where most event movies are drawn from known IP, Knives Out stands out as being an original film that could be a solid financial success. It could be exactly what the domestic box office needs after recent disappointments. To be fair, it would be somewhat disappointing if an original film like Knives Out became a franchise, but if the stories are compelling enough, maybe it will be worth it.
