Whodunnits just aren't what they used to be. Although the genre is still around, it has become something of a parody by merely existing. By simply mentioning the word whodunnit, one immediately conjures images of a quirky detective grilling an even quirkier roster of suspects as he slowly weeds out everyone that isn't the butler. It's all become too routine.
As a result, when Rian Johnson's modern whodunnit Knives Out hit theaters in 2019, fans of the genre had plenty to rejoice about, as the film gave the story-form a fresh coat of paint. By dressing a suspense film in the trappings of a whodunnit for the first two acts, Rian Johnson brilliantly subverted the genre's most cliche elements while simultaneously reveling in them.
When it came time to craft a sequel, Johnson was as eager as his distributor to continue the adventures of his eccentric detective Benoit Blanc. However, Johnson wasn't as keen on including Knives Out in the sequel's title and marketing.
Rian Johnson is opening up about the creation of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and said he lamented the film having Knives Out in its title. Johnson tried hard to make a sequel to his 2019 hit Knives Out that would be its own standalone story with only detective Benoit Blanc crossing over from the first film. "I've tried hard to make them self-contained. Honestly, I'm pissed off that we have A Knives Out Mystery in the title," Johnson told The Atlantic in an interview. "I want it to just be called Glass Onion." Johnson added, "I get it, and I want everyone who liked the first movie to know this is next in the series, but also, the whole appeal to me is it's a new novel off the shelf every time. But there's a gravity of a thousand suns toward serialized storytelling."
