Death on the Nile’s Massive Cast Confirmed as Filming Begins

Fox has confirmed the full cast for Death on the Nile. The Agatha Christie adaptation will serve as a sequel to Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express, which the actor-director also starred in as Christie’s famous Belgian super-detective, Hercule Poirot. Death on the Nile was originally scheduled to arrive in December 2019, where it would’ve faced off with Star Wars 9 at the box office. However, following Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the film was pushed back to October 2020 to avoid pitting the two Disney-own tentpoles against one another.

Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express followed Poirot as he attempted to solve a murder mystery aboard the eponymous train in the 1930s. The film boasted quite the impressive ensemble, with Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, and several other A-listers bringing the Orient Express’ many passengers to life. Appropriately, Branagh has assembled a similarly star-studded crew for his followup with Death on the Nile.

The massive Death on the Nile cast was officially confirmed on Fox this morning, now that production is underway in the UK and Egypt. Branagh will be joined in the film by Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, and Letitia Wright, in addition to Annette Benning, Russell Brand, Rose Leslie, Sophie Okonedo, Ali Fazal, Tom Bateman, Emma Mackey, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders. You can check out the related photo (which includes headshots of the entire cast), below.

Adapted from Christie’s 1937 novel by Michael Green (who also wrote the script for Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express), Death on the Nile picks up with Poirot as he investigates another mysterious murder, this time aboard a steamer headed down the Nile river. The book, much like Orient Express, has already been adapted for multiple mediums and was previously turned into a movie in 1978. The synopsis for Branagh’s version describes it as “a sinister tale of obsessive love and its murderous consequences [that] plays out in an epic landscape of danger and foreboding”. Branagh, in his statement, added “Agatha Christie has written a riveting story of emotional chaos and violent criminality and Michael Green has once again written a screenplay to match”.

One of the main criticisms of Murder on the Orient Express was that Branagh focused too much on his own performance as Poirot, at the expense of the film’s talented supporting cast. The hope, then, is that Death on the Nile will be more of a true ensemble piece, with Poirot once again serving as its beating heart (rather than its sole focus). Orient Express, of course, had other issues – all jokes about Branagh’s comically gigantic mustache aside – but if its sequel manages to tap into its ensemble’s full potential, then it could end up being an improvement overall. Here’s hoping for the best, then, when Death on the Nile arrives in about a year from now.

Source: 20th Century Fox