Glass Onion Cast and Director Take Fans Behind the Scenes of Knives Out Sequel: Watch
For Rian Johnson, a Benoit Blanc mystery is all about the characters who surround Daniel Craig's private detective.
On Wednesday, Netflix exclusively shared with PEOPLE a brand-new featurette from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the sequel to 2019's Knives Out, showcasing writer-director Johnson, 48, and the movie's ensemble cast as they discuss filming the second installment in the mystery series.
"We had such a wonderful talented cast who came in, who immediately picked up on the tone, and it's so important that we get that going straight away," Craig, 54, says at the top of the video.
The actors surrounding Craig this time around include Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline and Dave Bautista, whose characters are part of a group of friends who get together "for their yearly reunion," according to an official description for the movie.
"The things that define what a Benoit Blanc mystery is foremost, for me, it's fun characters," Johnson says. "The vibe was strikingly similar to the first one and we had some really good times together."
RELATED: Everything to Know About Netflix's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
JOHN WILSON/NETFLIX
Multiple cast members, including Monáe and Bautisata, reference Johnson's collaborative spirit in engaging a large cast of characters.
"Rian and the team put people first," Monae says. "That energy allowed us to come into work and give our all."
Kate Hudson, who plays model and fashion designer Birdie Jay, notes there are "so many layers" to each of the film's characters.
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"What was really interesting about playing Birdie is she doesn't realize how ridiculous she is," Hudson says. "I got to say the most insane funny lines. Playing the layers was really interesting and fun."
Edward Norton, whose billionaire character Miles Bron kicks off the mystery by inviting the rest of the film's characters to his private island in Greece, says in the featurette that he and Johnson found real-world inspiration for his character.
Netflix
"Rian and I talked a lot about Miles," Norton, 53, says. "There were certain people in the news cycle of the last few years that Rian and I found a particularly rich vein of gold to mine from."
"If you do ensemble and it's really working it feels like a theater troupe," Norton adds. "And fortunately, everyone had a slice of clown in them."
RELATED: Daniel Craig Didn't Want to Make 'Song and Dance' of Benoit's Sexuality in Knives Out 2
Netflix
"It's a different group of folks. You're making a different movie in a different setting," Johnson says of making a sequel to Knives Out. "We were really, really lucky in having an incredible group of actors who all really gelled and I'm really excited to keep doing these."
In the new mystery, set on a lavish private estate on a Greek island, Benoit Blanc "soon meets a distinctly disparate group of friends gathering at the invitation of billionaire Miles Bron for their yearly reunion," according to an official description of the movie.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery ran in theaters from Nov. 23-29 and will be available to stream on Netflix on Dec. 23.
