casting couch

Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, and More Join Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express

Photo: Getty Images

The impossible casting could not have happened, therefore the impossible casting must be possible in spite of appearances. As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the glamorous quintet of Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daisy Ridley, Michael Peña, and Judi Dench have joined the upcoming Kenneth Branagh–directed remake of Agatha Christie’s famed 1934 murder-mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express. Despite his penchant for mustachioed protagonists, Depp won’t portray Hercule Poirot the beloved Belgian detective will be played by Branagh himself, with Depp instead cast as Samuel Ratchett, the man who is murdered. Pfeiffer will portray Mrs. Hubbard, Ridley will portray Mary Debenham, Dench will portray Princess Dragomiroff, and Peña will portray a Cuban passenger named Marquez who does not appear in the original novel. Rounding out the cast is Hamilton star Leslie Odom Jr., who will be playing Doctor Arbuthnot (a colonel in the novel), and Tom Bateman, who will be playing M. Bouc. Choo-choo to awards season!

Depp, Dench Join Murder on the Orient Express