By Patrick Cremona

Published: Friday, 23 December 2022 at 12:00 am

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Much like the first film in the Knives Out franchise, sequel Glass Onion is a rather star-studded affair – with Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, and Kate Hudson among the big names to fall under the suspicions of Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc.

But those aren’t the only famous faces to appear throughout the film’s runtime. In addition to the main cast themselves, several stars make brief cameo appearances – some as themselves and some as fictional characters – including two icons whose roles mark their final screen appearances before they sadly passed away.

Read on for the full list below, which also includes a sporting superstar and a beloved British thespian.

Angela Lansbury

The great Dame Angela Lansbury appears in her final screen role during an early scene, filmed before she passed away at the age of 96 in October of this year. She stars as herself as one of the players taking on Benoit Blanc in a game of Among Us over Zoom – alongside some of the other famous faces listed below. Of course, given her longstanding role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, it’s only fitting that her final appearance should be in a whodunnit.

Stephen Sondheim 

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Like Lansbury, Sondheim’s cameo is his final screen appearance – with the musical theatre legend having passed away aged 91 in November 2021. He also appears in the aforementioned game of Among Us, and he too has strong links to whodunnits, having co-scripted the 1973 mystery film The Last of Sheila and been a long-term admirer of the genre.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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The third player in the game of Among us is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – who is probably less well-known to fans in the UK. He’s a former basketball star who played 20 seasons in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers and picked up all sorts of records and awards, including being named the Most Valuable Player in the NBA more times than any other player in basketball history.

Natasha Lyonne

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Rounding off the list of participants in the game of Among Us is Natasha Lyonne, known for her role as Nicky Nichols in Orange is the New Black and for creating and starring in Netflix’s Russian Doll. She is teaming up with Glass Onion writer Rian Johnson again for the upcoming Peacock series Poker Face.

Ethan Hawke

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This one is slightly different in that Hawke had been reported to be a part of the cast long before the film was released – it just ended up being a much smaller role than people had imagined (and indeed Johnson revealed it only came about at all because he happened to be shooting Moon Knight nearby. He appears in only one scene as an assistant to Miles (credited as Efficient Man), whose job is to spray each of the guests with a substance that apparently stops the risk of contracting COVID and thereby prevents them from needing masks.

Hugh Grant

This is one of the more substantial cameos in the film in that it could potentially see Grant reprise the role in future Knives Out instalments. He stars as Blanc’s domestic partner Philip, who is first only heard off-screen but is then seen answering the door to the detective’s apartment. Although it is not made explicit in the film, Johnson subsequently confirmed that Blanc and Philip are lovers – answering, “Yes, he obviously is,” when asked if Blanc was gay.

Serena Williams

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Williams stars as a virtual version of herself on a fitness machine belonging to Norton’s Miles Bron. It initially appears that this is a pre-programmed video message, only for it to be revealed that Serena is actually spending her own time to be at Miles’ beck and call, snapping at Andi and Blanc when neither of them wants to do a workout.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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This one is more hidden than most – in that Gordon-Levitt’s face doesn’t actually appear at any point in the film. Instead, he lends his voice to the Hourly Dong for Miles’ clock at the Glass Onion, which is heard several times throughout the runtime.

There are also a couple of other big names who are mentioned in passing but don’t actually appear in the film – such as Jared Leto and Jeremy Renner, the latter of whose fictional hot sauce ends up playing a pivotal role in the plot. 

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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