Glass Onion: Jessica Henwick Explains How Knives Out Mystery Was Revealed to Cast (Exclusive)

One of the big highlights of the Knives Out movies is trying to figure out the mystery of who the killer is. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is the sequel to the surprise 2019 movie from director Rian Johnson and brings back Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc. A new all-star cast of characters are assembled on a Greek Island, where one of the characters winds up dead. Who is the killer, and who ends up dead? These are the questions fans will be asking as they try to assist Blanc in solving the case. When it came down to the cast learning Glass Onion‘s big mystery, it wasn’t as dramatic as you may think.

ComicBook.com spoke to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery cast members Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline, where they were asked about learning the big “Whodunnit” of the film. “You know what, we didn’t actually do a cast read-through. It was strange,” Jessica Henwick said.

“No, never. We never did a table read. I would say [we found out from] the script,” Madelyn Cline added. “Rian didn’t hide anything from us.” So instead of keeping it a secret from the cast, Rian Johnson included all the juicy details in their scripts.

“Yeah, they did that when I was working on the… What didn’t they do it on? Most of my jobs, they have withheld scripts until the last minute and of often they just won’t give you the end of the script and it’s just a surprise,” Henwick said. “Rian is an actor’s director. I think because he used to be an actor. Back in the day, he was a little theater kid. So, he understands how important it is from the get-go.”

Rian Johnson Addresses Potential Knives Out Prequel

As proven by the praise earned by Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, there seems to be limitless potential for the future of Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, but one thing audiences shouldn’t expect is to see a prequel to the film franchise, at least if writer/director Rian Johnson has anything to say about it. From his perspective, despite Blanc being a compelling character, his role is always meant to be in service to the overall mystery as opposed to being the focal point, so he’ll only ever showcase relevant information about the character rather than his origins as a detective. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is set to land on Netflix on December 23rd.

“This is something that I was very relieved that Daniel and I are on the same page with,” Johnson recalled to Uproxx of the character’s history. “I think little tiny glimpses into that is fun for me. And it’s a trap that I find myself as a writer having to really push back against, just for myself. Having Daniel Craig in that part, the temptation is to think that Blanc as a character is what’s interesting about these movies.”

He added, “He’s interesting in his function within the mystery, you know what I mean? … I don’t know, the notion of building out a backstory, learning where he came from, all of that stuff, to me, I don’t know, I have a natural inclination to kind of push that stuff back and to say a little goes a long way in terms of that. And ultimately this has to be the story of the mystery. The mystery’s the thing. And the detective is interesting in the way he solves his function within solving the mystery. And if we get glimpses beyond that, that’s great. But I feel like a little of that goes a very long way for me.”

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery debuts on Netflix on December 23rd.