It’s been a couple of years since we first saw Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot hit the big screen and as the 58-year-old Irish director prepares to get to work on the sequel Death on the Nile, Deadline has brought word that Captain Marvel star Annette Bening has entered talks to join the ensemble cast of the murder mystery
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Bening, whose credits also include acclaimed dramas American Beauty and Bugsy, as well as indie dramedies The Kids Are All Right and 20th Century Women, was last seen in Marvel’s box office hit Captain Marvel earlier this year.
Should the deal go through, Bening will join Branagh who will once again star as Detective Poirot on top of directing, as well as Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair) reprising his role as Bouc, Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman 1984), Armie Hammer (On the Basis of Sex), Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) in the film, which is a sequel to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express. In the first film, what starts out as a lavish train ride through Europe quickly unfolds into one of the most stylish, suspenseful and thrilling mysteries ever told. From the novel by best-selling author Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express tells the tale of thirteen strangers stranded on a train, where everyone’s a suspect. One man must race against time to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.
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Death on the Nile was published in 1937. In the story, Poirot was on vacation in Egypt and ends up investigating a murder that resulted from a love triangle. The story was filmed for the big screen in 1978 and starred Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury and David Niven. Michael Green is returning to the new franchise to adapt the novel for the big screen after having scripted Murder.
The movie is set to arrive in theaters on October 2, 2020.
(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)
