Rian Johnson Hates That Glass Onion Still Has Knives Out Title

Rian Johnson’s highly anticipated and well-beloved Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, has recently dominated Netflix’s Top 10 over Christmas weekend, and with more sequels to expect in the Knives Out franchise, Johnson admits one crucial thing that’s been bothering him — the title.

In a recent interview on The Atlantic, Johnson reiterates how each sequel he is planning to make for the Knives Out franchise will be told as separate stories, like novels, with only No Time To Die star Daniel Craig reprising his role as detective Benoit Blanc. The Knives Out creator emphasizes it was only supposed to be titled “Glass Onion.” Check out his full comment below:

“I’ve tried hard to make them self-contained. Honestly, I’m pissed off that we have A Knives Out Mystery in the title. I want it to just be called Glass Onion.”

Johnson adds that although the audience finds the appeal of having to bear the same title in every film in the franchise, he wants the title to be let known to the world as a standalone story every time there’s a new one.

“I get it, and I want everyone who liked the first movie to know this is [what’s] next in the series, but also, the whole appeal to me is it’s a new novel off the shelf every time. But there’s a gravity of a thousand suns toward serialized storytelling.”

Why Is The Knives Out Sequel Titled ‘Glass Onion’?

Considering how Johnson is known to amazingly put things into perspective through every bit and clue he puts into Knives Out, he previously did explain what Glass Onion meant, indicating how it could perfectly work well without bearing the Knives Out series stamp.

“I’ll be very honest. I literally got out my iPhone and searched my music library with the word glass.” Johnson said in a Netflix Tudum interview, “The first thing that came up, [and] because I’m a huge Beatles fan, is Glass Onion.”

In a separate interview with Reuters, Johnson explained why he chose Glass Onion for a title, and apart from it coming from a Beatles fan, the title is contradictory. "Glass" indicating its transparency, although this ‘transparency’ has layers (from the "Onion"), and when putting this together with the context of what the Beatles song is about, the song was used as a response to Beatles fans who read too much into the meaning behind their lyrics. A rather clever way of summing up the murder mystery.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is currently available to stream on Netflix.

ALSO READ: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Dominates Netflix Top 10 Over Christmas Weekend