Christmas will come early this year for fans of Knives Out. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, its much-anticipated sequel, will be released to Netflix on December 23rd.

Netflix Tudum released a first look at the star-studded, Rian Johnson-directed whodunit, providing a release date as well as some new plot details. The film will center around Benoit Blanc, Daniel Craig's eccentric, Southern-accented private detective from 2019's Knives Out, who is invited to the private Mediterranean island of tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) to solve a murder. Johnson explains that unlike in the first film, where Blanc was, for much of the film, an opposing force to protagonist Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), Blanc will be Glass Onion's main character: "You definitely get to know him a little bit better". Whether Cabrera or any of the squabbling Thrombey family members from Knives Out will reappear remains to be seen, although star Jamie Lee Curtis suggests the family will be in therapy, instead.

Johnson elaborates that the movie was inspired by Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels, like the original, and also a number of sun-soaked murder mystery movies, particularly 1973's The Last of Sheila. Glass Onion Johnson also explains the sequel's enigmatic, Beatles-inspired title, elaborating that Glass Onion is part of one of Blanc's elaborate, tortured metaphors, akin to his famous "donut hole in the donut's hole" monologue in Knives Out. Wanting that metaphor to feature glass, Johnson searched for a song with an appropriate title: "I was like, "Oh, is it a glass fortress? Is it a glass castle? Is it a glass man?" The first thing that came up, because I'm a huge Beatles fan, is ‘Glass Onion.’" Appropriately enough for a murder mystery, John Lennon made the lyrics to 'Glass Onion' deliberately obtuse to befuddle listeners searching for a deeper meaning in the Beatles' music.

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Image via Netflix

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Glass Onion also stars Dave Bautista, Madelyn Cline, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Henwick, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe, and Leslie Odom Jr. It is produced by Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman, Johnson's frequent producing partner. It was shot on location in Greek resort town Porto Heli, which Johnson described as "like a summer vacation" for the cast and crew. A second Knives Out sequel, also directed by Johnson, is in the works; Netflix paid $469 million in 2021 to acquire the rights to both movies.

Glass Onion will stream exclusively on Netflix on December 23rd, after a limited theatrical engagement.