I’m So Happy Kenneth Branagh Isn’t Giving Up on Hercule Poirot

Who doesn’t love murder mysteries? The genre comes with a huge range of material to watch and read, though the queen of them still remains Agatha Christie. Her franchise with Detective Hercule Poirot has been made into television shows and movies time and time again. Most recently, it has been the passion project of actor and director Kenneth Branagh to bring these stories to a new audience. It’s just consistently happened with problematic casts (that became problematic after the filming but before the release) and a new murder mystery franchise to love from Rian Johnson.

Still, the stories of Hercule Poirot, specifically the ones that Branagh directed and starred in, were fun adaptations of the Christie stories. But I didn’t think we’d see it again and suddenly there is a trailer for A Haunting in Venice, a movie that was apparently announced back in October?

The trailer features stars Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh.

Honestly? Great! Bring me more of Branagh having fun as Poirot, I love it so much! I just didn’t know this was happening.

This movie came out of nowhere?

As someone with a finger heavy on the pulse of most entertainment news, I was truly and honestly shocked watching the trailer to discover that it is a Hercule Poirot story. The film is based on the Christie story titled Hallowe’en Party and so the title didn’t instantly give it away for me. Nor did knowing that it was directed by Branagh. I personally thought after Death on the Nile that we may never see Branagh as Poirot again. But then as the trailer went on and suddenly I heard his voice and saw the mustache, I cheered in my home. Because I do love the mysteries of Agatha Christie and particularly the ones solved by Poirot.

What’s great about this one in particular is that we’re getting into the less well-known versions of Christie’s stories. One of the reasons both Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile were just received as lukewarm adaptations is because those are incredibly recognizable titles. Not only is A Haunting in Venice not the title of the story it is based on but Hallowe’en Party also isn’t as adapted as the previous two films.

Hopefully, that will make this one the stand out of the existing trilogy—it already has Michelle Yeoh so that’s a bonus right there—and even bring the potential for more adaptations to come. For now, I’m just excited at the prospect of more Hercule Poirot. I had sad my goodbyes to him, thinking we’d seen his end. But I’m happy that Branagh’s passion project gets to continue to bring fans like myself joy.

(Featured image: 20th Century Studios)