Daniel Craig to Star in Rian Johnson-Directed Murder Mystery Knives Out

Daniel Craig is teaming up with The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson on an original murder mystery, Knives Out, per Deadline.

Craig is attached to star in Knives Out, described as a modern murder mystery inspired by Agatha Christie, and written and directed by Johnson, who will also produce alongside longtime partner Ram Bergman.

U.S. and foreign distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival received a completed script for the project out of nowhere on Monday night, with buyers set to vie for distribution rights during the festival.

The uncertain status of Bond 25 following Danny Boyle’s sudden exit also left an opening in Craig’s schedule to join the project.

Johnson says he’s been thinking about his own Agatha Christie-inspired murder mystery for a decade and, this summer, wrote “his contemporary version of the locked door mansion murder mystery.”

Johnson was better known for more modest original fare like Brick and Looper before splitting Star Wars fans with the polarizing, but still massive The Last Jedi.

Hopefully, getting to work on an original project will lend Johnson a breather from the more toxic corners of the Last Jedi backlash before he heads back to the franchise with his own trilogy. And for the fans exhausted by all these franchises, this is hopefully the fresh original story we’ve been waiting for.