'Knives Out 2' Adds Dave Bautista to Cast

Another actor who worked with Daniel Craig on a James Bond movie is joining the Knives Out [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Another actor who worked with Daniel Craig on a James Bond movie is joining the Knives Out franchise. Dave Bautista, who clashed with Craig in Spectre, has joined Rian Johnson's Knives Out sequel. Johnson will reportedly write and direct two Knives Out sequels for Netflix, which reportedly paid an astonishing $400 million for the rights to the movies.

Bautista's casting was first reported by Deadline and is the first big move for Knives Out. Back in late March, Deadline reported that Netflix is set to pay $400 million for Knives Out 2 and 3, which will see Craig play Detective Benoit Blanc once again. Johnson will write and direct both films, with his producing partner Ram Bergman producing. Although the first film was produced by MRC and Lionsgate, Johnson and Bergman only licensed the project on a picture-by-picture basis to the studios. They hope to start shooting Knives Out 2 by June 28 in Greece.

Bautista, 52, is a retired wrestler who started acting in 2006. In 2014, he was starred in Guardians of the Galaxy as Drax the Destroyer, a role he reprised in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. He also starred in Blade Runner 2049, and in the upcoming Dune. He also starred in Craig's penultimate James Bond movie, 2015's Spectre. Bautista's next movie will be Zack Snyder's zombie epic Army of the Dead, which will be released by Netflix on May 21. He also plays Drax in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, which opens on May 6, 2022. The character will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, which opens on May 5, 2023.

Knives Out is an Agatha Christie-inspired whodunnit featuring an all-star cast. The movie only cost $40 million to make, but grossed $311.4 million worldwide and earned Johnson an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Ana de Armas, who also stars in Craig's last Bond movie, No Time to Die, also starred in Knives Out. Other actors in the original Knives Out include Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKieth Stanfield, and the late Christopher Plummer. It's not clear if any of these stars will return for the sequel since it could feature Blanc investigating a completely different case. While we wait for Knives Out 2, Craig can be seen in No Time to Die, which will finally be released on Oct. 8 in the U.S. and Sept. 30 in the U.K. after being delayed several times last year.

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