Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Netflix Release Date Set For December 23rd

The release date for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has arrived. Writer-director Rian Johnson’s sequel Knives Out will be released on December 23 on Netflix, the world’s largest subscription video streaming service announced Monday evening. Although you can catch Daniel Craig’s Detective Benoit Blanc before then if you’re lucky. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is set to premiere in September at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and will hit select theaters internationally – not India – in November ahead of Netflix’s rollout. Netflix is ​​reportedly considering a 45-day cinema window for certain movies, starting with Glass Onion.

Along with the December release date announcement, Netflix unveiled two new stills from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, one featuring most of the cast and the second a behind-the-scenes shot of Johnson. While Netflix calls it a “first look,” we got it in February to be honest.

In addition to Craig, Glass Onion stars Edward Norton (Fight Club), Janelle Monáe (Hidden Figures), Kathryn Hahn (WandaVision), Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night In Miami), Jessica Henwick (iron fist), Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Kate Hudson (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), Dave Bautista (Army of the Dead) and Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise). Netflix also revealed Norton played tech billionaire Miles Bron in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

Rian Johnson with Janelle Monáe on the sets of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Photo credit: Netflix

And we also have a synopsis for the sequel to Knives Out: “When tech billionaire Miles Bron invites some of his relatives for a getaway to his private Greek island, it quickly becomes clear that all is not perfect in paradise. And when someone finds themselves dead, well, who better than Benoit Blanc to peel the strata of the plot? Johnson teased this Glass Onion would emphasize Craig’s detective persona more than the first film, and the inspirations behind the Mediterranean setting – the Knives Out sequel is set in Greece – for his next film.

“You definitely get to know him a little better,” Johnson said. “In the first one, because of the way it was structured, Marta, the character of Ana de Armas, was really the protagonist. To a large extent, White was the threat. He was almost the antagonist in terms of the structure of the story, because you feared, even as they got closer, that he would catch up to her and have to turn her around at the end. So Blanc was always outside of our protagonist’s sphere and was a bit more of an enigma in the first film. Whereas, in this one, Blanc receives an invitation to come to this murder mystery on this island. We really meet these people and enter this world through their eyes.

Said Greek island happens to be the playground of the aforementioned billionaire. To film it, Johnson landed in Porto Heli, Greece at Amazon’s Villa 20, an ultra-luxurious nine-bedroom estate that also served as a hotel for the cast and their families. Johnson felt it was the perfect location and added, “It felt like a summer vacation where we also made a movie.” The entirely different location – Knives Out was set in dark Massachusetts in a creaky mansion – and the heterogeneity of the new characters means that Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will feel totally different from the first film.

While the primary inspiration for writer-director Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still Agatha Christie – her Detective Hercule Poirot character was part of nearly three dozen novels. “Each time she found a path that felt unique and fresh to her, and you could tell it challenged her creatively,” Johnson said – he’s also watched ‘tropical getaway murder mystery’ movies like 1982’s Evil Under the Sun, and 1973’s The Last of Sheila. In the latter, a group of glamorous socialites go on a pleasure cruise that turns sour. If that sounds like a lot Glass Onionwell it is.

“There are absolutely some very clear inspirations that I took from it,” Johnson said. “First of all, it’s structured around a group of friends, or enemies, who all have a power dynamic with one of their successful friends. It starts with sending them an invitation to come and play this murder mystery game in this exotic location. In The Last of Sheila, it’s on her yacht, and everything ends up going wrong. It is essentially so Glass Onion begin.”

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