'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' Gets Netflix Release Date and Star-Studded First Look Photos

Netflix Cast of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

The Knives Out sequel already has plenty of suspects.

Writer-director Rian Johnson announced the title of the highly anticipated follow-up to 2019's Knives Out on Twitter earlier this summer — Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery — alongside a fun teaser video that also listed several members of the extensive cast.

This week, Netflix released first-look images at the film, revealing its release date on the streaming service: Friday, Dec. 23. (It's theatrical release date has not yet been announced.)

In the Greece-set follow-up, detective Benoit Blanc, played again by Daniel Craig, solves another murder mystery.

Netflix's Tundum explained the plot as following a tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who invites friends for a trip to his private island, though one of them soon winds up dead. Describing his casting approach for this film, Johnson, 48, said it was like "throwing a dinner party."

"You try and invite people that you like," he said. "But the reality is you never know. At the end of the day, just trying to get the best actors in each part, the actors that are most right for each individual part. So, you also just throw the dice and hold your breath. Luckily, we got a great group that really meshed."

RELATED: Dave Bautista on Why Knives Out 2 Will Be 'Better' Than Original: Characters Are 'More Colorful'

JOHN WILSON/NETFLIX Rian Johnson and Janelle Monáe

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free weekly newsletter to get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.

In addition to Craig and Norton, the cast also includes Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.

Netflix said that rather than a typical movie sequel, Glass Onion, which Johnson said he titled based on the Beatles song of the same name, is more of a "second installment in a narratively cohesive universe."

Johnson said when he came across Villa in Porto Heli, Greece, which would eventually serve as the backdrop for the movie, he knew he had to film there. Not only would it be used in front of the camera, Johnson said the cast and some of their families also stayed in the villa while filming.

RELATED VIDEO: The Knives Out Cast Agree That Jamie Lee Curtis 'Basically Took Over' the House

In addition to being inspired by author Agatha Christie, Johnson also looked to other "tropical getaway murder mystery" films like 1982's Evil Under the Sun and 1973's The Last of Sheila. 

"There are absolutely some very clear inspirations that I took from it," he said. "First of all, it's structured around a group of friends, or frenemies, who all have a power dynamic with one of their successful friends. It begins with him sending an invitation for them to come and play this murder mystery game at this exotic locale. In The Last of Sheila, it's on his yacht, and everything ends up going horribly wrong. That is essentially how Glass Onion begins."

Glass Onion will be the first of two sequels, with Johnson returning as director for both.