While the last adaptation of Agatha Christie‘s iconic A Death on the Nile had a rough release in the middle of the pandemic, it looks like the 20th Century is still not quite done yet with Kenneth Branagh‘s take on Hercule Poirot. In a new press release, they have unveiled that their next adaptation will be A Haunting in Venice inspired by Christie‘s Hallowe’en Party which will start production in a month.
Branagh returns in the director’s chair for the latest entry, which will add quite the cast once again. Tina Fay, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Kelly Reilly, Emma Laird, Riccardo Scamarico, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dorman, and Michelle Yeoh have joined the cast, which is eyeing a 2023 release. Branagh shared his excitement about the return in the following statement:
This is a fantastic development of the character Hercule Poirot, as well as the Agatha Christie franchise. Based on a complex, little known tale of mystery set at Halloween in a pictorially ravishing city, it is an amazing opportunity for us, as filmmakers, and we are relishing the chance to deliver something truly spine-chilling for our loyal movie audiences.
Kenneth Branagh
20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell also shared the following statement on continuing their relationship with Branagh and further adapting Christie‘s novels.
We are enormously privileged to continue our long collaboration with the incomparable Sir Kenneth Branagh and couldn’t be more excited by the bold new creative direction Ken, Michael, and the rest of the filmmaking team have taken with this latest film. We also remain grateful to James Prichard and the rest of our friends at Agatha Christie, Ltd., for their partnership and for once again entrusting us with, as Poirot modestly calls himself, ‘probably the greatest detective in the world.
Steve Asbell
This marks the third entry with Murder on the Orient Express in 2017 followed by this year’s release of Death on the Nile. Technically, Poirot has appeared in 47 novels from The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920 all the way to While the Light Lasts and Other Stories in 1997. So, they have quite a few stories they could tell for many years to come if they choose to do so, but they may also want to wrap up their take on Poirot with a trilogy.
