Director Rian Johnson has revealed that Star Wars and the MCU played a pivotal role in Ethan Hawke signing on to the Knives Out franchise. Johnson described the serendipitous way the collaboration came about in an interview with Andy Volk, lead programmer at the 2022 Austin Film Festival on Nov. 3. “We got really lucky,” he said. “Ethan was shooting the show with Oscar Isaac in Budapest, and so he came down to Greece for a day.”
The show in question was Marvel’s Moon Knight (2022), a Disney Plus streaming series that was shooting in Hungary while Johnson was on location in Greece filming Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Johnson’s previous work includes his turn as the writer and director of Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi. Hawke is a self-confessed Star Wars superfan who has openly spoken about his desire to be cast in the legendary space opera. The opportunity to work with Johnson on the Knives Out franchise may help bring the Austin, Texas, native another step closer to realizing his lifelong dream.
Glass Onion is the highly anticipated sequel to 2019’s Knives Out. The story is set on a private island owned by tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton). After a murder takes place on Bron’s property, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) arrives to investigate. Hawke plays Bron’s assistant in the show.
The series also stars Janelle Monáe, Leslie Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, and Leslie Odom, Jr. with cameos by Yo-Yo Ma, Hugh Grant, and Natasha Lyonne. Glass Onion also features the final performances from the late Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is streaming on Netflix.