The Knives Out franchise just got even better—in a London Film Festival press conference for the forthcoming Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion, director Rian Johnson confirmed that detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is gay.
According to Insider, a clip of the new movie shows Benoit living with a man. When asked if that scene meant that Benoit is gay and the other man is his partner, Johnson responded, “Yes, he obviously is, and there’s nobody in the world I can imagine bringing me more joy for Benoit Blanc to be with.”
Blanc was already a fan favorite in Knives Out, with his unforgettable accent and secret love of Sondheim tunes, and the confirmation of his LGBTQ+ identity was welcome news to queer fans.
Twitter reacts to Benoit Blanc’s identity
On Twitter, many fans welcomed the news that Benoit Blanc is gay.
However, some Twitter users expressed skepticism, noting that announcing a character’s queerness doesn’t mean much unless that character is portrayed as queer within the story. As an example, several people pointed to J.K. Rowling’s announcement that Dumbledore is gay, noting that she retconned the character without actually taking the risk of portraying his queerness within the Harry Potter books or movies.
However, if the press at the London Film Festival was able to pick up that the other actor is Benoit’s partner from just one clip, that bodes well for how the movie will portray his identity.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will premiere in limited theaters in the U.S. on November 23, 2022, followed by a wider release on Netflix on December 23, 2022. After the massive success of the original Knives Out, the sequel follows Benoit to Greece, where he’ll solve a murder mystery on a tech billionaire’s private island. Like the first movie, Glass Onion has a star-studded cast, including Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc himself.
(featured image: Netflix)
