The Thursday Murder Club: Everything we know about the cast, plot & more
Summit Entertainment/Universal PicturesPrestige British actors all in one place trying to solve a murder? The Thursday Murder Club is the movie that can’t come soon enough – here’s everything we know so far.
Gosh, you can’t say that Richard Osman off the telly isn’t clever. Aside from starring in one of the most binge worthy TV shows of all time – BBC’s Pointless – he’s since written a highly successful book series now picked up by Netflix.
First released in 2020, The Thursday Murder Club was the fastest-selling adult crime debut in recorded history at the time, with its audiobook also winning several awards.
Now the beloved story is becoming a new movie… and it’s already looking like a corker. From cast to plot, here’s everything we know about The Thursday Murder Club so far.
When will it be released?
As Thursday Murder Club has only just been announced, we don’t yet have a release date or window. The movie started filming on June 27, so we can comfortably rule a 2024 release out.
It’s likely filming won’t wrap until at least September this year, which means we’re probably looking at a release in the second half of 2025… at the earliest.
As it stands, Netflix still hasn’t confirmed release information for many of its existing projects, with fans of Virgin River and Stranger Things already getting tetchy.
Being a standalone, it’s difficult to tell where The Thursday Murder Club will fall in the streaming service‘s priorities. Despite this, creator Richard Osman has also revealed the movie will be getting a theatrical release too.
In a press statement, Osman added “I’m so proud of this book, so it is a dream to see The Thursday Murder Club in such incredible hands. From Chris Columbus to Amblin to Netflix, there are geniuses everywhere I look. And what a cast. I’m pinching myself.”
The Thursday Murder Club cast
Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley lead the Thursday Murder Club cast, with famous faces like Celia Imrie and Richard E. Grant on board, too.
NetflixThe full cast confirmed so far includes:
- Helen Mirren as Elizabeth
- Pierce Brosnan as Ron
- Ben Kingsley as Ibrahim
- Celia Imrie as Joyce
- David Tennant
- Jonathan Pryce
- Naomi Ackie
- Daniel Mays
- Henry Lloyd-Hughes
- Richard E. Grant
- Tom Ellis
- Geoff Bell
- Paul Freeman
- Sarah Niles
- Ingrid Oliver
It’s already a stacked cast, and there are plenty of names you’ll have seen attached to Netflix projects before. Most recently, Jonathan Pryce appeared in sci-fi series 3 Body Problem, while Daniel Mays voiced the rat, Fetcher, in Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.
Chris Columbus is on board as director, writer, and producer, known for previous work including The Goonies, Home Alone, and the first two Harry Potter films.
On top of this, The Thursday Murder Club will be produced by Amblin Entertainment, helmed by none other than directorial legend Steven Spielberg. The company has an existing partnership with the streaming service, already working on Carry-On starring Jason Bateman and Taron Egerton.
What’s the plot of The Thursday Murder Club?
The book follows pensioners Elizabeth, Ron, Joyce, and Ibrahim as they try to solve the mystery of a property developer. However, it’s not yet known how closely the movie will be sticking to the book’s storyline.
However, we do know that our four main characters and their place of retirement – Coopers Chase – will stay the same. Osman shared the above behind-the-scenes image with the caption “Little visit to Coopers Chase today.”
In the book, the quartet has weekly meetings to discuss cold cases of interest, but one day discovers a death too close to home… and it’s up to them to work out what’s what.
One murder then develops into a series, with the group working with the police. They intend to prove their worth by racing to solve the murders before the detectives actually assigned the case do.
At the time of writing, there’s no reason to suggest the movie will deviate from the plot of Osman’s first book.
Will the other books be adapted?
There are no confirmed plans for other The Thursday Murder Club books to be adapted. However, following Netflix’s strategy for cozy crime films, it can’t be ruled out either.
In total, there are four – The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last Devil to Die. All of them feature the main characters that we’ll be seeing on Netflix soon enough.
As stated, there are no plans to adapt anything further than book one, but the continuation of Knives Out and Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot films tell us that anything could be possible for a film of this ilk.
Is there a trailer for The Thursday Murder Club?
There isn’t currently a trailer for The Thursday Murder Club, but we’ll update this page as soon as it drops.
For more, check out new movies streaming and new true crime documentaries to binge while you wait. You can also find more updates on new releases like Joker 2, 1923 Season 2, and Gladiator 2.