When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.
Apr 01, 2021 On the latest episode of The Sneider Cut, your esteemed host Jeff Sneider weighs in on the new star of the Transformers franchise, plus Netflix's splurge on a pair of pricey Knives Out sequels.

Netflix reportedly dropped big money to acquire two sequels to Rain Johnson's Oscar-nominated 2019 mystery film 'Knives Out.' Detective Benoit Blanc's next cases will therefore drop exclusively on.

Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is a wildly successful mystery writer and he’s dead. His housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) finds him with a slit throat and the knife still in his hand. It looks like suicide, but there are some questions. After all, who really slits their own throat? A couple of cops (the wonderful pair of LaKeith Stanfield and Noah Segan) come to the Thrombey estate do a small investigation, just to make sure they’re not missing anything, and the film opens with their conversations with each of the Thrombey family members. Daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a successful businesswoman with a shit husband named Richard (Don Johnson) and an awful son named Ransom (Chris Evans). Son Walt (Michael Shannon) runs the publishing side, but he’s been fighting a lot with dear old dad. Daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) is deep into self-help but has been helping herself by ripping off the old man. Finally, there’s Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), the real heroine of “Knives Out” and Harlan’s most trusted confidante. Can she help solve the case?

The case may have just been closed if not for the arrival of the famous detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, who spins a southern drawl and oversized ego into something instantly memorable. Blanc was delivered a news story about the suicide and envelope of money. So someone thinks this is fishy. Why? And who? The question of who brought in Blanc drives the narrative as much as who killed Harlan. Johnson is constantly presenting viewers with the familiar, especially fans of the mystery movie—the single palatial setting, the family of monsters, the exaggerated detective—but then he subverts them every so slightly, and it feels fresh. So while Blanc feels like a Poirot riff, Johnson and Craig avoid turning it into a caricature of something we’ve seen before.

Pop Trivia With Rian Johnson's 'Knives Out' Did you know that Jaeden Martell 's character was partly inspired by The Last Jedi 's online trolls? Learn more facts about Rian Johnson 's Knives Out with IMDb's Pop Trivia. But the movie is also beautifully balanced among its excellent cast, with each member feeling appealingly human and shining in individual moments. Visually, Knives Out is splendid, fluid in the way it moves around the nooks and crannies of the huge house and also when it lingers on its unforgettable 'wheel of knives' centerpiece.

Craig is delightful—I love the excitement in his voice when he figures things out late in the film—but some of the cast gets lost. It’s inevitable with one this big, but if you’re going to “Knives Out” for a specific actor or actress, be aware that it’s a large ensemble piece and your fave may get short shrift. Unless your favorite is Ana de Armas, who is really the heart of the movie, allowing Johnson to imbue “Knives Out” with some wonderful political commentary. The Thrombeys claim to love Marta, even if they can’t remember which South American country she comes from, and Don Johnson gets a few razor sharp scenes as the kind of guy who rants about immigration before quoting “Hamilton.” It’s not embedded in the entire piece as much as “Get Out,” but this “Out” is similar in the way it uses genre structure to say something about wealth and social inequality. And in terms of performance, the often-promising de Armas has never been handed a role this big, and she totally delivers.

By/Nov. 24, 2019 12:57 pm EDT/Updated: July 13, 2020 11:31 am EDT

Rian Johnson's deliciously twisted whodunnit Knives Out is finally in theaters, but even if you paid close attention all throughout the hilariously savage caper, you may still be left with some questions — particularly when it comes to the ending. The mystery at the center of Knives Out revolves around who killed Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a famed mystery novelist who started his own successful publishing house, became extremely wealthy, and used his impressive earnings to support the families of his three children. From the moment Harlan is found dead in the film's opening, we're taken on a twisting journey through what the family thinks happened, what really happened, and the biggest question of all: why?

Plenty of characters in the film had a motive to want Harlan dead, but how he actually wound up six feet under is a complex question with a surprising answer. And while the film dangles numerous pieces of the puzzle in front of the audience throughout its runtime, it's not until the last few minutes of Knives Out that they finally come together to form a complete picture. There's a lot of information offered up at the close of the film — not to mention all the important tidbits scattered like breadcrumbs — and we wouldn't blame you if you're still a little unsure how it all fits together. We're here to lay out everything you need to know about the ending of Knives Out, and what really happened to Harlan Thrombey.

Of course, the fun of Knives Out is all about watching the ingenious plot unfold, so we seriously recommend you don't read on until you've seen the movie. It would truly be a crime to spoil your appetite for this delicious donut, and there are most certainly spoilers ahead!

How are all the characters connected in Knives Out?

To understand the ending of Knives Out, it's important to first understand each character in the film's sprawling cast, and how they're all connected to one another. At the top of the family tree is Harlan's wizened mother, Greatana Wanetta (K Callan), who doesn't say much, but sees a lot. Then there's Harlan, and his two surviving children, Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Walt (Michael Shannon). Walt ostensibly runs Harlan's publishing house (although in reality Harlan is still the one pulling the strings), while Linda is a 'self-made' businesswoman who built her business from the ground up (with a handy million-dollar start-up loan from her father, of course). Then there's Joni (Toni Collette), an Instagram influencer whose husband, Harlan's son, died 15 years earlier, and has been living off of Harlan's generosity ever since.

Linda is married to Richard (Don Johnson), and they have an adult son, Hugh (Chris Evans), although the family calls him by his middle name, Ransom. Walt is married to Donna (Riki Lindhome), and they have a teenage son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell). And Joni has a college-aged daughter, Meg (Katherine Langford), from her marriage to Harlan's son.

Also in the Thrombey family's orbit are Harlan's housekeeper, Fran (Edi Patterson), and his personal nurse, Marta Cabera (Ana de Armas), who throughout her years of employment, also became his close friend and confidante. Although the Thrombeys often say they consider Marta 'part of the family' (a claim that's constantly undermined by their inability to remember what country she's from), the only one she's really close to, other than Harlan, is Meg.

How did Harlan Thrombey die in Knives Out?

In the opening scene of Knives Out, Harlan's housekeeper Fran discovers him dead on the couch in his study, covered in blood from an apparently self-inflicted knife wound to the neck. His family had all come into town for his 85th birthday party the night before, which turns out to be convenient since they wind up sticking around for the funeral, will reading, and police investigation. Although Lieutenant Elliott (Lakeith Stanfield), the investigator assigned to the case, believes Harlan's death is a clear-cut case of suicide, he still questions everyone who was in the house the night Harlan died, just to make sure all the bases are covered. However, renowned private investigator Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) suspects foul play right from the get-go.

Cast Of The Movie Knives Out

Technically, Blanc turns out to be only partially right. No one murdered Harlan Thrombey; he really did commit suicide by slitting his own throat. However, the actual circumstances surrounding his death were far more complicated than that. Not only was Harlan's suicide intended to cover up what he believed was an accidental poisoning, but someone else really was trying to kill him, and their actions are what led dir