A Haunting in Venice: Kenneth Branagh assembles a top-notch cast for the next Poirot movie

Detective Hercule Poirot will soon have another mystery to solve, and like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile before it, Kenneth Branagh has assembled a top-notch cast for the next Poirot movie.

Kenneth Branagh has tapped Kyle Allen (Rosaline), Camille Cottin (Call My Agent), Jamie Dornan (Belfast), Tina Fey (30 Rock), Jude Hill (Belfast), Ali Khan (6 Underground), Emma Laird (Mayor of Kingstown), Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), Riccardo Scamarico (Caravaggio’s Shadow), and Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) to star in A Haunting In Venice.

“Set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows’ Eve, A Haunting in Venice is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot,” reads the official description. “Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.” Kenneth Branagh will once again reprise the role of Poirot and will direct the movie as well. Michael Green penned the script, based on Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party. Production will take place at Pinewood Studios outside London and on location in Venice. In a statement, Kenneth Branagh said:

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.

20th Century Studios President Steve Asbell added, “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.’” After numerous delays due to the pandemic, Death on the Nile was finally released in theaters earlier this year. Although it received mixed reviews, the film performed well enough for the studio to move forward with another sequel. How do you feel about Kenneth Branagh taking the helm of another Poirot mystery?