The Murder Mysterenaissance just keeps getting better and better! As production ramps up Rian Johnson's star-filled Knives Out threequel Wake Up Dead Man, Netflix's other big upcoming whodunit, Chris Columbus' adaptation of Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, is continuing to add to its own stacked ensemble. Per Deadline's reporting, Withnail & I star Richard E. Grant and Lucifer's Tom Ellis lead the latest round of additions to the buzzy Brit-led crime caper.
Hailing from writer-director Columbus and backed by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, there's some serious creative firepower behind Netflix's take on Osman's tale of crime-solving pensioners caught up in a real high-stakes murder mystery. As has already been confirmed, The Thursday Murder Club's central quartet consists of Helen Mirren's ex-spy Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan's former union man Ron, Ben Kingsley's retired psychiatrist Ibrahim, and Celia Imrie's kindly former nurse Joyce. And now, on top of the recent reveal that David Tennant, Naomi Ackie, and Daniel Mays are all headed for Cooper's Chase, Grant and Ellis — alongside Geoff Bell (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Paul Freeman (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso), and Ingrid Oliver (Doctor Who) — have all added their names to the increasingly lengthy suspect list.
Filming is already underway on the hotly anticipated crime-comedy, which bodes well for our plans for a 2025 Wake Up Murder Club double-feature (we're still workshopping the name, okay?). And, with three further Cooper's Chase mysteries already out there and Osman set to start an all-new crime novel series with the upcoming We Solve Murders, it wouldn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce we could be in for plenty more where The Thursday Murder Club is coming from. And hey, if you're going to adapt a series of beloved British bestsellers, then Chris Columbus is a guy who knows a thing or two about that. Wizard!