Knives Out 2 Expected to Hit Theaters and Netflix Late This Year

Rian Johnson's Knives Out 2 is now expected to hit both theaters and Netflix late in 2022. According to the report from Variety, Knives Out 2 is looking at the final quarter 2022 as the release window; the sequel is said to be looking at a festival run as its initial premiere, before the theatrical/streaming release. After the success of Knives Out 1 (a modern meta take on the classic detective whodunit), Netflix inked a deal with Johnson for two Knives Out sequels. Production on Knives Out 2 finished back in September; Daniel Craig will once again star, with another ensemble of high-profile stars rounding out the cast. 

 In addition to Daniel Craig back as detective Benoit Blanc, Knives Out 2 will feature Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick, and Ethan Hawke. The sequel story will be unrelated to the first film, which examined the death of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), and the resulting scheming and backstabbing by the tycoon's family. 

The first Knives Out earned over $300 million on a $40 million budget; Netflix is clearly hoping the sequels will do well enough at the box office (they paid $450 million for them), but also help anchor the streaming service's premium movie content, as well. Rian Johnson established a pretty smart platform of pulling big-name stars into fun ensembles, and it doesn't seem like there's any shortage of stars who want to play in this sandbox. 

"In my mind, I don't even think of it in terms of like a sequel," Johnson also said previously. "Ever since we started working on this I was like, look, if we can keep this going, the same way Agatha Christie wrote a bunch of Poirot novels. I mean, do that with Blanc and keep making more mysteries. Whole new cast, whole new location, whole new mystery. It's just another Benoit Blanc mystery and it seems like there's just so many different things you can do with it, you know? It seems like it'd be really fun."

Star Daniel Craig has added that "We've just finished the second one, literally weeks ago. They've just wrapped up in Serbia. Dare I say it's better? We'll see. I don't want to tempt fate. It's different, and that's the amazing thing. It's still a Benoit Blanc mystery, but it's very different. I'm very excited about it." 

Look for Knives Out 2 in theaters and on Netflix in late 2022.