Glass Onion: Release date, cast, trailer, plot and filming locations for Knives Out sequel

Three years after unmasking the killer of crime writer Harlan Thrombey in Knives Out, Daniel Craig’s drawling detective Benoit Blanc has another mystery to solve.

The unexpected success of Knives Out led to Netflix snapping up the rights to two further Blanc mysteries for $469 million (£387 million). The first of the films, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, will be released on Netflix on 23 December 2022.

Netflix has now released a trailer for the movie, which you can watch above, and which sets out the plot as guests - including Blanc himself - arrive on a Mediterranean island for a murder mystery weekend with a difference.

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What is the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery release date?

The film was released in select UK cinemas for one week only on 23 November, which has now ended.

It arrives on Netflix globally on 23 December 2022.

What’s the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery plot?

Glass Onion finds detective Benoit Blanc (Craig), swapping chilly Massachusetts for the sunnier climes of Greece, where finds himself at the centre of another murder mystery. The Netflix synopsis reads:

Benoit Blanc returns to peel back the layers in a new Rian Johnson whodunit. This fresh adventure finds the intrepid detective at a lavish private estate on a Greek island, but how and why he comes to be there is only the first of many puzzles.

Blanc soon meets a distinctly disparate group of friends gathering at the invitation of billionaire Miles Bron for their yearly reunion.

Among those on the guest list are Miles’ former business partner Andi Brand, current Connecticut governor Claire Debella, cutting-edge scientist Lionel Toussaint, fashion designer and former model Birdie Jay and her conscientious assistant Peg, and influencer Duke Cody and his sidekick girlfriend Whiskey.

As in all the best murder mysteries, each character harbors their own secrets, lies and motivations. When someone turns up dead, everyone is a suspect.

The victim's possible identity was revealed in an exclusive clip from the film shared at Netflix's TUDUM fan event on 24 September. In the clip, introduced by the film's writer and director Rian Johnson, Miles' friends work together to solve an elaborate series of puzzles and receive their invitations to the reunion.

Who's in the Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery cast?

With sleuth Benoit Blanc moving on to tackle a completely new mystery, Daniel Craig is the only member of the Knives Out cast to appear in its sequel. And just as the first film boasted an impressive ensemble cast, so does Glass Onion. The cast includes:

• Edward Norton (Fight Club, Gotti) plays Miles Bron
• Janelle Monáe (Hidden Figures, Moonlight) plays Andi Brand
• Kathryn Hahn (Anchorman, We’re the Millers) plays Claire Debella
• Leslie Odom Jr (Murder on the Orient Express) plays Lionel Toussaint
• Jessica Henwick (Game of Thrones, The Matrix Resurrections) plays Peg
• Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks) plays Whiskey
• Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, Mother’s Day) plays Birdie Jay
• Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049, Dune) plays Duke Cody

Watch our exclusive interview with Kate Hudson (Birdie Jay) below:

Netflix has released a series of images from the film showing the leading characters.

Who created Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery?

Like Knives Out, Glass Onion is written, produced and directed by Rian Johnson.

Where was Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery filmed?

Location filming took place on the affluent Greek island of Spetses in June and July 2021.

Rian Johnson told Netflix that he stumbled upon the perfect location - Villa 20 at the Amanzoe in Porto Heli - and just knew he had to shoot there. what's more, the setting doubled as a hotel for the cast, many of whom brought their families along during filming.

“It felt like a summer vacation where we also made a movie,” Johnson said.

The director tweeted that filming was “just about halfway through” when the crew left the Mediterranean at the end of July. 

Principal photography continued in Belgrade, Serbia, and on 13 September 2021, Johnson tweeted: “We just wrapped production on the next Benoit Blanc mystery.”

Spetses is no stranger to Hollywood film crews – Maggie Gyllenhall’s Oscar-nominated debut The Lost Daughter, starring Olivia Colman, was also filmed there.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is released on Netflix globally on 23 December 2022.

Will there be a Knives Out 3?

Netflix paid $469 million for the rights to two sequels to Knives Out, so a third instalment is almost certainly on its way. For now this episode is untitled, although it is pencilled in for release in 2024.

What is Knives Out?

Released in cinemas in 2019, Knives Out is a modern take on the traditional whodunnit. As well as all the tropes of the genre – a wealthy, dysfunctional family, a host of guests each with a motive to murder, and a maverick detective with his own peculiar way of reasoning – Knives Out added a fiendish plot, a hilarious veneer of melodrama and, in Daniel Craig, a portrayal as far removed from James Bond as you can get.

With Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana de Armas and Christopher Plummer (in one of his last screen roles) among the ensemble cast, the film became a word-of-mouth hit at Christmas 2019 and went on to earn Johnson an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

5 reasons why everyone was talking about Knives Out

With box office takings of $311 million and positive reviews including a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s little surprise that Johnson and Craig soon got back together for a second instalment. 

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery arrives on Netflix on 23 December 2022.