Knives Out and Glass Onion Director Pitches New Subtitle for Future Films

By Patrick Cavanaugh

With the only narrative connective tissue from Knives Out to its sequel being Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc, writer/director Rian Johnson recently noted how, while his sequel Glass Onion earned the subtitle A Knives Out Mystery, he would like to see the series hopefully embrace the subtitle "A Benoit Blanc Mystery." The filmmaker previously expressed his disappointment at including Knives Out in his sequel's title, though he understood the reason for it, though by a new subtitle focusing less on the initial film and more on the iconic character, it would allow each film to feel more distinct and detached from one another.

When speaking with The Filmcast about Glass Onion's subtitle, Johnson expressed, "The thing is, though, I totally get it. It's not like this was done against my will or something. I completely understand it. Because after the first movie, I think people knew that they liked Knives Out [but] they didn't necessarily know it well enough to know who Benoit Blanc was. I think that would've gotten blank stares. And I wanted everyone who loved Knives Out to know that [Glass Onion] is the next one of those. So I absolutely 100% was on board and totally got it that we had to do that." 

He continued, "But also, it kills me a little bit and I want to see how quickly we can lose that subtitle. As soon as we can get past those and get to 'A Benoit Blanc Mystery' ... and I will say, with this one, with the reach of Netflix and just how many more people I feel like have seen it and how much more it feels like it's actually in the culture, we're at least getting closer to being able to get away with 'A Benoit Blanc Mystery' and people would know what we're talking about."

A third film is confirmed to be on the way, but it's unknown at this point if that entry will be able to pivot from the current subtitle to what Johnson most recently proposed. The filmmaker already did, however, tease that there will be some big changes for the third installment.

"I'm making the next [Benoit Blanc movie] next because it's the most exciting thing right now to me. That's served me really well," Johnson detailed to Empire Magazine earlier this month. "I feel like any movie I'm making, I need to be making it because I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm jumping into the next Benoit Blanc next because I can't think about another story."

He continued, "I've got a big cloud of ideas, but it hasn't all snapped into focus yet ... It's exciting, though, and it's very, very different from this one. That's what I'm excited about."

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Stay tuned for details on Knives Out 3.

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