Spoiler Warning: Glass Onion: A Knives Out StoryGlass Onion and Knives Out are two of the best breakout movies in the mystery genre. But they are distinct in forming a movie franchise because both the original Knives Out film and its sequel are so distinct. While both follow the exploits of renowned detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), both are also completely separate stories that could be enjoyed as if the other didn’t happen. In Glass Onion Mr. Blanc has amounted to some sort of fame due to his first case in Knives Out, but this reputation is the only thing that connects the two movies.
It’s fairly common in the mystery genre to have largely independent stories, but usually, there are some ancillary characters or unique themes that create some kind of connective tissue between the tales. Two movies are hardly enough to establish a pattern, but Rian Johnson is set on taking the Knives Out franchise further. Knives Out 3 will hopefully be his next movie, and in the threequel we might start to see some connections forming. Benoit Blanc has certainly had a big impact on his world, and it’s a world with a lot of recognizable faces in it. Who will we see again? What consequences will these mysteries have? And which priceless piece of art will be destroyed this time?
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Glass Onion took place almost entirely on the lavish Greek island owned by Edward Norton’s character, Miles Bron. And there, we were rapt in the dual mysteries of why Benoit Blanc had been summoned and who had killed Andi Brand (Janelle Monae). But Glass Onion did something quite explicit, which was to bring in a slew of real-life celebrities into the Knives Out franchise.
Though its star-studded cast couldn’t be the stars themselves, we saw a laundry list of amazing cameos: Angela Lansbury, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Stephen Sondheim, Natasha Lyonne, and Yo-Yo Ma. Perhaps most memorable was Serena Williams’ appearance when Blanc was discussing the case with his accomplice in the island’s gym. Knives Out had in it a few scattered references to the real world, and it certainly felt like a carbon copy. But Glass Onion both involves and diverges from reality in a big way. These are the moments that will, at a bare minimum, connect the films into a series.
At the end of Glass Onion, Helen Brand (also expertly played by Janelle Monae) lost her composure and destroyed everything in Bron’s home – including the Mona Lisa. That’s a pretty big note to mark in the series. Though it might not be brought up again, it’s certainly not something to ignore that Blanc was present at the destruction of the world’s most famous painting.
Events like this create the world in which Knives Out exists. And as Blanc grows more famous in that world, his life and references to his past cases will continue to pop up. In future films, we may see consequences surrounding the fall of Bron’s company Alpha, or Marta may show up again since she finished the first movie as a wealthy owner of her own publishing company. There are a lot of resounding events Johnson might look to for a callback, but the elements that will connect the series will have to come directly from the person who is, at the moment, his only recurring character.
The Life of Benoit Blanc
At the moment Blanc is the only connecting thread between Knives Out and Glass Onion. This isn’t so out of the ordinary for a mystery series. But even though Sherlock Holmes was preoccupied with the case most of the time, he still had Watson, Mycroft, and Scotland Yard. That is to say, Holmes had a cast of characters that told a story not just about mysteries, but about the drama of his own life. Knives Out is slightly unique in that, although it does have a very distinct, intelligent detective at the center, he often isn’t the star. Knives Out was more the story of Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) and Glass Onion focused more on the enigmatic Bron, until Andi came into play.
Glass Onion brings Blanc back for a new story, but the magnifying glass is still pointed at the mystery. The only drama we’re aware of in his life is the terrible bath-laden depressions he falls into when he doesn’t have a mystery to solve. Glass Onion gave us the tiniest glimpse at the actual man who is Benoit Blanc. His partner Phillip (Hugh Grant) is the only person who seems to be closely involved in his life, and he might be the only person that we would see again in a Glass Onion sequel. He might be friends with his strange quartet of Among Us players, but aside from that, we haven’t seen anything to suggest that Blanc has a life outside of solving murders. Knives Out is a strangely unique mystery series, and we are only at its beginning.
