‘Knives Out 2’ Cast Continues to Grow, Adds Janelle Monae

The Knives Out 2 cast is growing seemingly daily, and each new bit of casting is more exciting than the next. So far, Edward Norton and Dave Bautista have joined the Rian Johnson-directed sequel that brings back Daniel Craig‘s master sleuth Benoit Blanc. Now, Janelle Monae has come on board as well. Like the previous two casting announcements, we don’t know who Monae is playing, but it’s safe to assume the sequel will once again assemble a big cast of characters and make them all suspects in a murder.

THR has the latest Knives Out 2 casting scoop, reporting that Janelle Monae is joining the ever-growing cast. At this point, we’ve had a new casting announcement every day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the next few days continue that trend. Very little is known about this sequel, but like the first film, it will once again involve a large ensemble cast built around Daniel Craig’s Southern private detective. None of the other ensemble players from the first film beyond Craig are expected to return.

Last year, Johnson said: “I’m actually writing another Knives Out. It’s been such a mindfuck, 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 a Knives Out sequel. 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.”

Monae is a singer and actor who has turned in memorable performances in Moonlight and Hidden Figures, among other things. She was even good in the otherwise lackluster Antebellum, and the second season of Homecoming. She will no doubt make a great addition to this cast, and I can’t wait to see who she plays – and who else ends up joining her.

Filming on Knives Out 2 is expected to begin in Greece this summer. The Greece shooting location suggests that Benoit Blanc will be taking his particular set of skills international, which certainly fits with the Agatha Christie/Hercule Poirot-themed nature of the character. Knives Out 2 is headed to Netflix, with the streaming service closing a massive deal for both Knives Out 2 and Knives Out 3. The exact number was somewhere around $469 million, with the stipulation that “Craig must star in the sequels and that each must have at least the budget of the 2019 movie, which was in the $40 million range.”

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