The cast for Knives Out 2 has trickled out slowly but surely. Over the course of May, it seemed like a new big-name suspect was being added to the ensemble every couple of days. Dave Bautista. Edward Norton. Janelle Monáe. Kathryn Hahn. And so on in that fashion. (Leslie Odom Jr. and Kate Hudson, too.) But one name somehow eluded the press till Tuesday: Ethan Hawke is also in it! Apparently! Who knew?!
The latest addition didn’t come from a studio-sanctioned press release or a Hollywood trade like The Hollywood Reporter or Deadline. It came from the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which leaked some surreptitiously snapped set photos from the whodunnit, showing Hawke, with a fine ponytail, pointing a gun at costar Bautista. (The film, incidentally, just began filming on Monday, on the Greek island of Spetses.)
You can see the photos at the Daily Mail, which also included shots of Craig, Hudson, Hahn, Odom Jr., and director Rian Johnson. There was also — surprise! — another apparent cast reveal: no less than Jada Pinkett Smith, which is also very exciting news. Everyone rocks predictably excellent summer vacation duds, which should prove a nice change-up from the first one’s primo sweater line-up.
Hawke, who earned raves last year for the renegade biopic Tesla — about the inventor, not the Elon Musk company — will also soon be seen in the Marvel show Moon Knight, having well-earned his right to a Disney paycheck. Pinkett Smith, meanwhile, is among the returning cast members for the as-yet-untitled fourth Matrix.
Perhaps their inclusion in the first of at least two Knives Out sequels Netflix paid quite a lot for was intended to be a secret. If so, then tut-tut, Daily Mail.