Angela Lansbury filmed her Glass Onion role on a laptop: Inside all the Knives Out 2 cameos

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Glass Onion.

When writer-director Rian Johnson was making Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, he had no idea it would mark the final screen appearances of two entertainment legends: Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim.

"It means so much that they were in the movie," the filmmaker tells EW. "It means even more to me that I got 10 minutes with each of them to just tell them what their work meant to me, which was very, very special."

The late actress and composer both appear as themselves early in the film, playing the online deduction game Among Us over Zoom with Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Natasha Lyonne (the latter of whom is partnering with Johnson on the Peacock series Poker Face). Lansbury died in October at 96, while Sondheim passed away last year at 91.

"They're both in the movie for — I don't want to oversell it — a very small, fun little moment," Johnson says. "But they do both have cameos in the film. And when we were coming up with that moment, it was just like, 'Who would be the pie-in-the-sky, we'll-never-get-them idea?'"

Walter McBride/WireImage; Phillip Massey/WireImage Stephen Sondheim; Angela Lansbury

Both Sondheim and Lansbury have strong connections to the mystery and whodunnit genres: the former co-wrote the screenplay for The Last of Sheila, and the latter, of course, starred as detective Jessica Fletcher on 12 seasons of Murder, She Wrote.

"With Angela Lansbury, she's extraordinary in so many ways in her connection to the genre," Johnson gushes. "She's just a hero. And then Sondheim has a massive connection to the murder-mystery genre. He was a puzzle and mystery nut. He co-wrote, with Anthony Perkins, The Last of Sheila, which our film takes a huge page from in terms of the setup. And a lot of people don't know [it's] the only straight play he ever wrote that wasn't a musical was a whodunit."

Fans of Johnson might also recall a Sondheim homage in the first Knives Out: Blanc sings "Losing My Mind," from Sondheim's Follies, while sitting alone in a car at one point. Lansbury is linked to the legendary lyricist and composer as well, having originated the role of Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. "I'm a musical theater nerd," Johnson confesses. "Sondheim's always been my guy."

As for how their shared cameo in Glass Onion came to be, Johnson was connected to Sondheim via their agent, Bryan Lourd. "I had heard through the grapevine that Stephen had seen the first movie and had enjoyed it," Johnson says. "Before I knew it, I was getting calls from Stephen Sondheim asking when I could hop on the Zoom. It was really as quick and simple as that. He was at his house, and he had blurred out the background. And I got on the Zoom with him, we got to chat for about 15 minutes. I feel so thankful that I got a chance to tell him what his work meant to me in my life. He couldn't have been lovelier, and he was so game for doing this little cameo. It brings me so much joy that he's in the movie."

Johnson recorded that brief Zoom session and edited it into the final gallery of faces we see in the film. He had a similar experience with Lansbury, but he brought his laptop to her home and recorded her there, rather than attempting to navigate the technology from afar.

John Wilson/Netflix Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, Daniel Craig, and Leslie Odom Jr. in 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'

There's also a deeper, more nuanced reference to Sondheim in the film: Johnson likens Glass Onion's story of a group of old friends coming together amid lingering resentments to Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.

Edward Norton, who plays billionaire Miles Bron, describes that aspect of the storytelling as essential to the stakes. "Rian gave everybody a taste of the fact that their friendship was real, that they loved each other once," he says. "It makes it credible. If everybody doesn't like each other, that's one thing. But he layered in the history of real friendship and rising together."

This prompts Johnson to confess to the Merrily connection, saying, "It's Merrily We Roll Along, the Sondheim show, which I was listening to over and over when I was writing. There's a bunch of lines from Merrily that are planted throughout. And if you look in Blanc's apartment, there's a poster for Merrily on the wall."

Though Sondheim and Lansbury are perhaps the most poignant cameos in the film, Glass Onion is packed with notable appearances.

Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke plays a character simply named "Efficient Man," who greets the guests at the dock in Greece as they prepare to visit Miles Bron's island. He sprays a substance that apparently eradicates COVID into each of the visitors' throats as they arrive, and signals that they're cleared to go on the island with a brisk "You're good."

Johnson reveals that the cameo wasn't planned in advance, but Hawke happened to be nearby in Budapest shooting Marvel's Moon Knight and hopped over to Greece for a day to shoot the scene.

Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner gets a hilarious shout-out when his celebrity-branded hot sauce plays an integral role in the plot. The hot sauce fictional, but Renner took the heat like a champ when he appeared on Hot Ones last year, which gives him some spicy cred. (Speaking of made-up celebrity products in Glass Onion, don't miss the gag about a Jared Leto-branded hard kombucha.)

Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo as Benoit Blanc's domestic partner during a brief scene showing the detective's apartment. At the start of the film we hear only his voice, as his Phillip asks Blanc if he's in the bath again. Later, during a flashback, we see him answer the door when a prospective client comes calling.

Grant's appearance prompted many viewers to ask whether it was confirmation that Blanc is queer. When Johnson was asked about the scene, he replied, "Yes, he obviously is."

Johnson was tickled by the idea of Grant playing Blanc's lover. "There's nobody in the world I can imagine in bringing me more joy for Benoit Blanc to be with," he said.

Craig added, "No spoilers, [but] who wouldn't want to live with that person?"

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Even after multiple viewings, you might be asking, "Where the heck is Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this movie?" That's because only his voice is present. The actor vocalizes Miles Bron's hourly "dong," an obnoxious clock signifier that generates both humor and eventually a sense of dread.

Gordon-Levitt has a long history with Johnson, having starred in Brick and Looper. He also made cameos in Johnson's Knives Out, The Brothers Bloom, and even Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Yo-Yo Ma

Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma appears as himself in an early scene where Kate Hudson's Birdie Jay is throwing a raucous party. Complaining of boredom in the midst of the bash, the model-turned-sweatsuit-entrepreneur perks up when she receives Miles' puzzle-box invite to his private island. But when a key clue in solving the riddles of the box involves one of Bach's fugues, Ma is there with the assist.

Serena Williams

Tennis superstar Serena Williams appears on a Mirror-like fitness device, where she has apparently been retained to provide training services to Miles. At first it appears to be a pretaped home workout service, but after Blanc and Andy (Janelle Monae) go back in forth in the gym, Williams breaks the illusion and asks if either of them wants to do a workout. Startled, they decline, and she shrugs, quipping about how it's Bron's money.

Glass Onion is currently playing in select theaters for a one-week run. The film hits Netflix on Dec. 23.

Related content:

• The cast of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery spills secrets in EW's Around the Table

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery review: Maximum mayhem on a Greek island

• Through the looking glass: Inside Knives Out sequel Glass Onion