A New 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' Trailer is Here

Audiences could use more well-written murder mysteries. Something that makes you think (but not too hard) while ogling A-list actors, their cable-knit sweaters, and their silly accents. After the success of Knives Out, which earned $311 million on a budget of $40 million in 2019, it looks like they'll get them. Netflix is going all out for the sequel, hopefully setting up a series of anthology films starring Daniel Craig as private detective Benoit Blanc.

The film was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 2020 Academy Awards as well as for three Golden Globes, making it one of the most successful franchise launches of an original concept in recent memory. Knives Out was also full of colorful characters, funny dialogue, and an ensemble cast featuring Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lakeith Stanfield, Don Johnson, and the late Christopher Plummer.

Now, Netflix has revealed a new trailer for the highly anticipated sequel, which will feature an all-new cast—besides Craig—a new location, and a new mystery. The preview, streaming above, gives us a tiny bit more info about what we already knew would be a tropical mystery. Ed Norton's character, Miles Bron, invited our merry band of A-listers to his mansion for a murder mystery dinner party. Someone actually dies, kickstarting the new Knives Out mystery. From there, we see all of our antiheroes bickering and clowning, before the tease that Blanc himself may very well be in danger this time around.

"I wanted to establish right off the bat that every single [Knives Out movie] is going to be a very different animal," director Rian Johnson, told EW in an interview timed to the trailer's release. "Each one of them must have its own reason for being and its own theme. It's not just repeating a formula, but using this genre to create a whole new formula every time. Sometimes with series or sequels, it can become weird, stratified, fossilized from the previous movies. The fun thing to me is genuinely creating something fresh and new."

So far, so good, Rian. The Netflix whodunnit is set to make its debut on the streaming platform on December 23. As we play detective before the film debuts, here's everything we know so far about the next Knives Out mystery.

"Knives Out 2" Is Actually Called, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Though Knives Out 2 would have worked just fine, Johnson revealed in a Twitter thread in June that the film would be titled Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Now, he's also revealed that the movie's title was not, in fact, totally random. In fact, it pays homage to the 1968 Beatles song of the same name. "I'm always fishing for something fun that Blanc can grab onto as an overwrought metaphor that he can beat to death," he said to Netflix."This is all in plain sight from the very start. So, the idea of glass came to me, something that's clear."

"I'll be very honest," he continued. "I literally got out my iPhone and searched my music library with the word 'glass.' There's got to be some good glass songs. I was like, 'Oh, is it a glass fortress? Is it a glass castle? Is it a glass man?' The first thing that came up, because I'm a huge Beatles fan, is 'Glass Onion.'"

Daniel Craig Will Return as Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Craig's work on No Time to Die, which ended up being his final appearance as James Bond, almost conflicted with his ability to star in Knives Out. After the Bond flick was delayed three months, however, his schedule opened up and he shot the whodunnit right away.

The role of the Kentucky-fried private eye ushered in an entirely new kind of franchise, and the British star is reportedly more than happy to play Benoit Blanc in numerous future Knives Out films."How the fuck do we take something that caught people’s imagination and made them talk about murder mysteries, and do it again without it becoming a pastiche of itself?" Craig asked himself in an interview with Empire. "I’ve spent the past 15 years of my life trying to do that in [the James Bond] franchise, so I’m not afraid of it. If you’ve got the right people in the room and the right talent, then you can do it. Rian’s a genius writer and doesn’t want to repeat [himself]. Neither do we want to let people down; we want audiences to enjoy the world that we created in the first one and believe in this one."

Craig also revealed that he spent three to four months with an accent coach before shooting Glass Onion, relearning the Kentucky accent for Benoit Blanc. The sequel to Knives Out will reportedly put the beloved detective character more in the forefront, and Craig wanted to make sure that his accent did not become a parody of itself. "Blanc was always outside of the sphere of our protagonist and was a little bit more of an enigma in the first movie," Johnson said. "Whereas, in this one, Blanc gets an invitation to come to this murder mystery on this island. We’re very much meeting these people and getting into this world through his eyes. You definitely get to know him a little bit better."

Glass Onion Will Be A Tropical Mystery

In Johnson's comments about the film, he explains that Glass Onion is set to be a tropical murder mystery held at a billionaire's mansion in Greece. "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," he said. "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."

Aside from Craig's return the new film will be a standalone mystery and not a direct sequel to the original. Johnson had previously told Digital Spy that writing Glass Onion has been "such a mindfuck," because it took him 10 years to write Knives Out and now he was starting from scratch.

Following some clues about the title, it may help to know that a "glass onion" is a bottle used for storing brandy or wine on old sailing vessels, which have large bottoms in the shape of an onion to prevent spilling while out on the water. Will the bottle act as the next decorative knife collection?

We're Going to Get A Lot More Knives Out

In March 2021, Netflix reportedly bought the rights to two sequels for $450 million. It was one of the largest deals ever made for the rights to a film series, according to Variety, and signaled many more to come if they shared the same success as the original.

Craig and Johnson plan on making a third film together as well, and in today's entertainment market, there's no reason to ever stop there. Let the knives stay out.

You Might Also Like

• The 16 Best Men's Gifts From Oprah's Favorite Things 2022

• Kid Cudi Is All Right

• 16 Best Shoe Organizers For Storing and Displaying Your Kicks