Following this year's Poirot outing, Death on the Nile, 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell has confirmed that a third adventure for "probably the greatest detective in the world" is now in development. In an in-depth report by The Hollywood Reporter, Asbell revealed that a script for a threequel starring Kenneth Branagh has been written and teased some details regarding the adaptation.

"We have the Poirot franchise, we have other Christie stories. I love these films, I love Ken [Branagh, who plays detective Hercule Poirot and directed Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile]. We have a third script written, by Michael Green, that is a pretty daring shift in genre and in tone. It's post-war Venice and an adaptation of one of the lesser-known novels. So I think you'll see the mustache again."

Though he remains vague, it sounds like the third installment in the Poirot franchise will attempt to do something different with the whodunnit series than what has come before. Shifting from the likes of Murder on the Orient Express and the more recent Death on the Nile in both “genre” and “tone” could be exactly what Poirot needs. But will Kenneth Branagh direct such a daring divergence from the Poirot norm...

"Yes. Ken is Poirot, but Ken is also the series."

Kenneth Branagh Wants to Make an Agatha Christie Shared Universe

With another Poirot sequel now confirmed to be in the works, director and star Kenneth Branagh edges ever closer to getting his wish of crafting an Agatha Christie shared universe. "I think there are possibilities, aren't there? With 66 books and short stories and plays, she - and she often brings people together in her own books actually, so innately - she enjoyed that," Branagh said back in 2017. "You feel as though there is a world - just like with Dickens, there's a complete world that she's created - certain kinds of characters who live in her world - that I think has real possibilities."

Audiences last saw Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, which finds the Belgian sleuth Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turn into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short. Set against an epic landscape of sweeping desert vistas and the majestic Giza pyramids, this tale of unbridled passion and incapacitating jealousy features a cosmopolitan group of impeccably dressed travelers, and enough wicked twists and turns to leave audiences guessing until the final, shocking denouement.

Starring an ensemble cast that includes Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright alongside Kenneth Branagh in the lead role, Death on the Nile was released in February to mixed reviews.

So, which “lesser-known” novel do you think Steve Asbell and 20th Century Fox have their eye on? A Death on the Nile sequel is just one of the exciting revelations made by Asbell, who discussed other upcoming tentpole releases such as Free Guy and Avatar.