You know that new Hercule Poirot movie, starring Kenneth Branagh, coming out next month? The one that’s called “Murder on the Orient Express 2?” Oh wait, it’s called “Death on the Nile” and is actually not a sequel but just the further adventures of one of fiction’s greatest detectives. Well, if you use that logic, we shouldn’t be calling the forthcoming “Knives Out” sequel a sequel. According to Rian Johnson, the film is most definitely not a sequel.
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It’s no surprise that people are psyched for “Knives Out 2: Knife Harder” (not the official title, but if Johnson is out there and open to suggestions, I have plenty). The first film featured a stellar cast, led by Daniel Craig as the great detective, Benoit Blanc. The film was nominated for a bunch of awards and has catapulted Ana de Armas into A-list territory. Naturally, that means Johnson has been tasked with writing a sequel, as Hollywood is always on the prowl for the next great franchise. But according to an interview with, uh, Interview magazine, Johnson isn’t currently writing a sequel, he’s writing a whole new film that just so happens to feature Craig’s character.
“I’m actually writing another ‘Knives Out,’” said Johnson. “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.”
Of course, what Johnson is talking about is the same thing I alluded to earlier with the Agatha Christie stories. Whatever the new film is called, it will only be related to “Knives Out” in the sense that Craig’s Benoit Blanc will be investigating a new crime. The cast will be new. The setting will be new. And hopefully, the story won’t be a rehash of the first film. So, in essence, it’s a brand-new thing altogether. But yet, it’s just easy to call it a sequel, right?
Well, you’re wrong. I’m wrong. Rian Johnson is wrong. We’re all wrong for calling it “Knives Out 2.” So, what other options do we have, right now? “The Further Adventures Of Mr. Benoit Blanc: A Rian Johnson Mystery?” Okay, maybe that doesn’t work either.
