After the wildly polarizing and divisive reception to Star Wars: The Last Jedi, a movie that some fans are still struggling to move past four years later, Rian Johnson went back to basics for his next film to craft a twisting, turning and completely original whodunnit that ended up becoming one of the biggest sleeper hits of 2019.
Knives Out drew an impressive 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes, hauled in $311 million at the box office and landed the filmmaker an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, so it’s safe to say that the thriller went down a storm with critics and audiences alike. However, it hardly felt as though it came burdened with multi-film potential.
Of course, Netflix have what appears to be a bottomless pit of cash at their disposal, so the streamer was happy to shell out upwards of $400 million to secure the exclusive production and distribution rights to a pair of sequels, with the nascent Knives Out franchise being refitted into an anthology series of sorts, with Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc providing the connective tissue.
In a new interview, star Madelyn Cline admitted that she’s equal parts excited and nervous to be taking part in such a high profile project with a bevvy of big names, but teased that audiences should expect something incredible when Knives Out 2 comes to Netflix next year.
“I’m in Europe, and I’m filming the sequel to Knives Out, and I’m very, very excited about it. I’m just going to be completely honest with you, it’s the most mind-blowing, terrifying experience ever. You know how you have moments in life where you just look around, and you look at life, and you’re like, ‘How in the sh*t did I get here’. I feel very lucky, but I walk onto set everyday and it feels like a miniature existential crisis, because I’m working with people I’ve looked up to for my entire life. And now I’m getting to work alongside them, and they’re phenomenal people, It’s terrifying, but it’s also incredible. It’s super-amazing; it’s the experience of a lifetime.”
Cline’s profile has risen significantly thanks to her lead role in the platform’s smash hit teen drama Outer Banks, but it’s still a huge jump to find herself in the same ensemble as Craig, Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Ethan Hawke, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick and Jada Pinkett Smith, as Knives Out 2 continues the star-studded theme of the first installment.