Singer Janelle Monáe (Homecoming) has joined the excitingly and suddenly growing cast of Knives Out 2, which now appears to be in full force ramping up pre-production. The addition was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, but little is still known about what roles the ensemble will all be taking on or the movie's plot.

　　In addition to Monáe, Dave Bautista (Army of the Dead) and Edward Norton (Fight Club) are among the earliest of what's expected to be many casting announcements, based on the 2019 movie that kicked off the new franchise. Knives Out 2 currently has no set release date, but is expected to begin production in Greece sometime this summer.

　　Like the first installment, the movie will see Daniel Craig play master detective Benoit Blanc--with an inexplicable southern accent--solving a mystery where there's a large pool of potential suspects. The original Knives Out starred Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, and Toni Collette.

　　Netflix recently secured a deal with writer-director Rian Johnson for both Knives Out 2 and 3 for a staggering $400 million, which means eventually there will also be similar announcements for an upcoming third movie. In addition to working with Netflix, Johnson is also developing Poker Face, a 10-episode mystery series for Peacock that will star Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll).

　　David Wolinsky on Google+