Whodunits are naturally in a creative class of their own. Although whodunit novels have become one of the most sought-after in the mystery genre, there have been only a few movies that can stand out. So, when Knives Out was released towards the end of 2019, it became a must-see for lovers of the genre.
The story follows the mysterious death of a wealthy, dysfunctional family patriarch. His housekeeper finds him dead with a slit throat the morning after his 85th birthday party. Although local police detectives rule it as suicide, someone in the family anonymously hires an intuitive private detective to investigate for murder. As the search to find the killer intensifies, family secrets are brought to the open. In the middle of it all is the dead man’s nurse Marta Cabrera.
With a bad case of Pinocchio’s syndrome that sees her puke whenever she lies, Marta agrees to team up with the private detective to find the killer.
Most notably, the movie had a star-studded cast, making its delivery even more entertaining. In anticipation of its standalone sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery to be released on November 23, 2022, here are the cast and characters of 2019 Knives Out.
Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer)
Credit: Knives Out
Harlan Thrombey is the patriarch of the wealthy Thrombey family. He’s a mystery novelist and is found dead in his home with his throat slit. The movie centers around finding his killer.
Christopher Plummer plays Mr. Thrombey in this epic mystery movie. Sadly, the movie would be the last to be filmed before his death. He died peacefully in his home.
Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig)
Credit: Knives Out
Daniel Craig drops the gadgets and guns of Agent 007 to play the calm, intuitive, private detective Benoit Blanc. Blanc is hired to investigate a murder and find the killer.
It doesn’t take long to find he has not only been hired anonymously, but everyone in the dysfunctional family is a suspect. He chooses to team up with the dead man’s nurse to find the killer.
Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas)
Credit: Knives Out
Marta Cabrera is Harlan Thrombey’s nurse. Miss Cabrera, who had a close relationship with Harlan, has an undocumented immigrant mother. She’s supposed to be the prime suspect, but witnesses see her leave the mansion before Harlan sleeps.
Unable to lie without vomiting, the private detective sees her as an ally and teams up with her. The role is played by Cuban and Spanish actress Ana de Armas.
Hugh Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans)
Credit: Knives Out
Chris Evans drops the shield as Captain America to give life to the character, Hugh Ransom Drysdale. Ransom is the grandson of Harlan Thrombey and is among the suspects of private detective Blanc. He’s the son of Richard and Linda Drysdale.
Ransom plays a pivotal role in the movie’s plot and later teams up with Miss Cabrera in a supportive role. In the movie, his sick, aging grandmother once mistook Miss Cabrera for him by calling the latter Ransom.
Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis)
Credit: Knives Out
Jamie Lee Curtis plays the character of Linda Drysdale. Linda is the eldest daughter of Harlan Thrombey, wife to Richard Drysdale, and mother of Ransom Drysdale. She’s the only family member suspected of being the killer for motives other than financial gains.
With most of the family secrets out, she gets to learn about her husband’s illicit affair. Linda is Harlan’s only daughter and seems very possessive of him.
Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon)
Credit: Knives Out
Walt Thrombey is the youngest son of Harlan Thrombey. Unsurprisingly, he seems to throw the most tantrums when the family is gathered. Walt is the CEO of his father’s publishing company.
With Walt’s continuous pestering that his father’s novels be sold and adapted into movies to make more money, Harlan fires him as the company’s CEO. Naturally, this is a probable motive for murder and puts him on the detective’s list.
Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson)
Credit: Knives Out
Don Johnson plays Richard Drysdale, the husband of Linda Drysdale. Although not a direct member of the Thrombey family, he gets on the detective list when someone overhears his argument over something with Harlan on the night of Harlan’s 85th birthday.
Harlan had confronted Richard with photographic evidence of his infidelity to his daughter. Harlan tells Richard to come clean to his wife, or he’ll tell her.
Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette)
Credit: Knives Out
Toni Collette plays Joni Thrombey, the widow of Harlan’s deceased son Neil. More notably, she’s the daughter-in-law of Harlan Thrombey, mother of Meg Thrombey, and runs a failing cosmetic company Flam.
Although she behaves like a successful CEO, she depends heavily on the yearly support from Harlan. Harlan discovers she’s stealing from his granddaughter’s (Meg Thrombey) tuition and proceeds to end Joni’s yearly allowance. She gets on the detective’s list as a suspect because Harlan, in addition to stopping her yearly allowance, removes her from his inheritance.
Detective Lieutenant Elliott (Lakeith Stanfield)
Credit: Knives Out
Lakeith Stanfield plays the character of Detective Lieutenant Elliott. He’s assigned the death case of Harlan Thrombey. As a no-nonsense detective, he’s looking to wrap up the case as quickly as possible in honor of Harlan’s legacy in the community. Lakeith Stanfield brings his calm, poised demeanor to the role.
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