Rian Johnson is reportedly working on a Knives Out sequel. The first installment is currently still in theaters and making solid money. As of this writing, it sits at $130.2 million domestically and could become the second highest grossing original North American movie of 2019. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is currently at number two with $141 million, while Jordan Peele’s Us is number one with $175 million. With the surprise success, a sequel isn’t too far-fetched, but will it be able to capture the same feeling of the first installment?
According to a new report, Rian Johnson has been “commissioned” to write the story for Knives Out 2. The sequel will reportedly not bring back the original cast except for Daniel Craig. The sequel “will have all new characters and a crime to solve for Benoit Blanc.” This could obviously work out for viewers who saw and liked Knives Out. Additionally, Johnson and Craig have publicly stated many times that they really enjoyed working with each other. While this has not been confirmed, Johnson himself has already teased the idea. He explains.
“I don’t know about a Looper sequel, but a Knives Out one, instead. It would be so great to get together with Daniel again on another Benoit Blanc mystery, with a new cast and new location, just like Christie did with Poirot.”
Rian Johnson credits Daniel Craig for being the one who got Knives Out going in the first place. The whodunnit is packed with an amazing cast of actors, who all seemed to really enjoy the experience of making the movie with Johnson. But, Craig was apparently the glue that kept everything together. Johnson had this to say.
“Him signing up is the reason we were able to make the movie. Besides being a movie star, he’s also a fantastic actor who is really well respected, so I think he served to attract higher caliber talent to the project.”
As for putting Knives Out together, it was a relatively easy process for Rian Johnson, who started writing it in January 2018, right after The Last Jedi hit theaters. “I wrote it very fast. I wrote it in about six months, and then we had wrapped the movie by Christmas,” says Johnson. “It came together really, really quickly, mostly because Daniel [Craig] signed up for it, and had a very brief window that he was available before he went into Bond world.”
It looks like Knives Out 2 is a definite possibility and something Rian Johnson might already be working on. With that being said, the original source of this story could have gotten their information directly from Johnson’s original quote, so we’ll just have to wait and see if anything ever comes from it. With the Academy Awards on the way, there’s a good chance we’ll hear about some Knives Out nominations, which will also fuel sequel speculation. The original report comes to us from Showbiz 411.
