Knives Out 2 and 3 sell to Netflix for eye-popping $400+ million, Daniel Craig returning

Netflix is increasing its cable-knit sweater budget.

The streamer is striking a massive deal to acquire two sequels to the 2019 whodunit Knives Out for more than $400 million, EW has learned. Rian Johnson will return to direct, and star Daniel Craig will be back as detective Benoit Blanc, the super-sleuth modeled on Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

According to Deadline, which first reported the news, Johnson has already written the sequels, and production on the first follow-up is slated to begin in Greece in June.

The Knives Out Twitter account, which has continued to be a cheeky presence for fans long after the film debuted, responded to the news by tweeting, "what."

Lionsgate distributed the original Knives Out — which boasted a star-studded cast including Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, and Christopher Plummer — and the sequels were previously in the works at that studio.

Both Johnson and Craig have been vocal about their desire to return to the world of Knives Out, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. "I don't want to jump the gun, but it's something I would love to do," Johnson told EW last year. "First of all, because I had so much fun working with Daniel, and second, just because of the idea of doing the same thing that Agatha Christie did with Poirot and Miss Marple — just doing a whole different deal with Benoit Blanc as the detective. The possibilities of that seem endless in a way that's really exciting."

For his part, Craig told EW he'd be "over the moon" to play the character again. "I mean, I'd do anything for Rian," he said. "If he writes something, I'll do it. Of course I will. Why wouldn't I? I had a ton of fun doing it. You aim for that every time, you aim for that to work out. It rarely, rarely does, but it did on that movie and how nice is that?"

A representative for Johnson declined to comment on the Netflix deal, and reps for Craig did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Related content:

• Seven late, great Christopher Plummer roles, from Up to Knives Out
• How Rian Johnson wrote Knives Out, the best cinematic whodunit in years
• Daniel Craig is jealous of Chris Evans' pecs (but not his Knives Out sweater)