'Black Panther' Star Letitia Wright Books A Trip With 'Orient Express' Sequel 'Death On The Nile'

With Murder on the Orient Express, director and actor Kenneth Branagh loaded the cast with famous faces and impressive actors, all in the name of bringing Agatha Christie's mystery to life. Branagh clearly wants to repeat this approach with the sequel, Death on the Nile. Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer and Jodie Comer already have parts, and now Black Panther breakout Letitia Wright has climbed aboard the Death on the Nile cast as well. Wright will play one of the suspects Branagh's Hercule Poirot is investigating.

THR is reporting Letitia Wright has joined the Death on the Nile cast for director Kenneth Branagh. Wright will play "Rosalie Otterbourne, a lead suspect in the story, which follows Poirot as he attempts to unravel the murder of a young heiress while on holiday in Egypt." She joins other cast members Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer and Killing Eve's Jodie Comer. This is already shaping up to be an incredible cast – which seems to be the plan Branagh has for these Agatha Christie films going forward.

Here's the synopsis of Christie's original novel:

Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a journey to Egypt in one of Agatha Christie's most famous mysteries, Death on the Nile. The tranquility of a cruise along the Nile was shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway had been shot through the head. She was young, stylish, and beautiful. A girl who had everything . . . until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalled an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: "I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger." Yet in this exotic setting nothing is ever quite what it seems.

Poirot's trip to Egypt was was teased at the end of Orient Express, and I have no doubt the next entry in this series will be teased at the end of this film, provided 20th Century Fox (and I guess Disney) wants to keep it going.

I wouldn't call Orient Express a great movie, but it was an entertaining, star-studded, old-fashioned sort of thriller, and I like the idea of Branagh turning this into a big, slick, glamorous franchise where famous faces show up and immediately become murder suspects. Wright was a huge part of making Black Panther so memorable, and the more roles she gets going forward, the better off the moviegoing public will be.

Branagh intends to start shooting Death on the Nile at the end of September, with October 22, 2020 slated as the current release date.