After the release of two successful Agatha Christie mystery adaptations, 20th Century Fox has officially announced that another adaptation from actor and director Kenneth Branagh is already heading toward production. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Steve Asbell, 20th Century Studios president, revealed that Branagh is again returning to direct and star as detective Hercule Poirot and that the script has already been written. He teased that the next film will adapt one of Agatha Christie’s “lesser known novels” and that it will have a different tone from the past two films.
Asbell’s full quote says: “We have the Poirot franchise, we have other Christie stories. I love these films, I love Ken [Branagh]. We have a third script written, by Michael Green, that is a pretty daring shift in genre and in tone. It’s post-war Venice and an adaptation of one of the lesser-known novels. So I think you’ll see the mustache again.”
The first film of the franchise, Murder on the Orient Express released in 2017 and starred Daisy Ridley of recent Star Wars: The Force Awakens fame, alongside Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Bateman, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, and Penelope Cruz. Death on the Nile starring Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Armie Hammer, Ali Fazal, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Letitia Wright, and Russell Brand is showing in theaters now.