By ANI
WASHINGTON: Netflix’s upcoming ‘Knives Out’ sequel has added actor Jessica Henwick to the already packed star cast of the film.
As per Deadline, the actor has joined the first sequel to ‘Knives Out’, teaming up with a star-studded list of previously announced cast members including Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr. and Edward Norton.
Actor Daniel Craig, who essayed the role of master sleuth Benoit Blanc in the hit 2019 whodunnit, will reprise the role in the sequel.
The upcoming second installment will be written and directed by Rian Johnson. He is also set to produce with Ram Bergman under their T-Street banner. Plot details are being kept under wraps but the follow-up will be another star-studded murder mystery anchored by Craig’s character Blanc.
‘Knives Out’ was released via Lionsgate in 2019, earning a total of USD 311.4 million at the box office on a USD 40 million budget. Johnson, who earned a 2020 Oscar nomination for the ‘Knives Out’ screenplay, told The Hollywood Reporter that he began working on the script shortly after the first film was released.
In a massive USD 469 million deal, Netflix recently won the rights for two sequels and a readymade franchise. The only contingencies of the deal were that Craig must star in both the sequels and that each must have at least the budget of the 2019 movie.
The original ‘Knives Out’ starred Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, and Toni Collette, among many others. It is currently unclear whether or not any of the original film’s cast members will join Craig for the new murder mystery, which is planning to start production in Greece this summer.
The first film was born out of Johnson’s love for Agatha Christie novels, and he set out to write his own whodunnit focussing on the demise of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Plummer), which sets off a fight for his estate among his children and grandchildren.
Among the dysfunctions within the deceased’s family, Detective Blanc (Craig) arrives to investigate the suspicious circumstances of Thrombey’s death, with everyone a suspect.
Henwick had her first breakout role in the Netflix and Marvel series ‘Iron Fist’. She followed that up by landing a coveted leading role in the next chapter in ‘The Matrix’ series starring opposite Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.
She is currently filming ‘The Gray Man’ opposite Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.