A major book-to-screen adaptation hits large screens and Netflix in a few weeks, just as summer nears its end; what perfect timing indeed! As fans know, The Thursday Murder Club, based on Richard Osman’s popular 2022 novel, is scheduled to debut in select theaters on August 22, before its streaming debut six days later. Ahead of the much-awaited arrival, a full trailer has been released, teasing several characters who weren’t present in the May teaser. One such character is the villain Ian Ventham, whom Netflix has further revealed in a first-look image.
Ian is the brash, dodgy, and unscrupulous owner of retirement village Coopers Chase, and he is portrayed by the acclaimed Doctor Who star, David Tennant. The slimy character is shown in the latest Thursday Murder Club trailer telling someone off-screen that he is “not worried about the cantankerous old farts.” Meanwhile, in the first-look photo below, he is seen having a chat with his right-hand man, Henry Lloyd-Hughes‘s Bogdan Jankowski, in a café. They both look deep in conversation.
As described by Netflix, The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of friends in a retirement home who gather to solve murders for fun but find themselves caught in a real case. Director Chris Columbus has also teased a “wonderful mystery at its core” that will delight fans of the genre, while also providing comedic entertainment. He added:
“Thematically, it’s interesting that we’ve got four elderly people who are living in a retirement community and who are fascinated by death and murder. They are facing their own demise, yet at the same time they are obsessed with studying cold cases. I fell in love thematically with that. It’s comedic, but it’s also very emotional.”
Who Stars in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’?
Leading the lovely production as the four amateur sleuth-hounds: ex-spy Elizabeth, ex-union activist Ron Ritchie, ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif, and ex-nurse Joyce Meadowcroft, are Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. They are joined by Tennant, Lloyd-Hughes, Naomi Ackie as PC Donna De Freitas; Daniel Mays as DCI Chris Hudson; Jonathan Pryce as Elizabeth’s husband, Stephen; and Tom Ellis as Ron’s son, Jason. Richard E. Grant, Geoff Bell, Paul Freeman, Sarah Niles, and Ingrid Oliver also star. Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment handled production, while Katy Brand and Suzanne Heathcote wrote the screenplay.
The Thursday Murder Club arrives this month.
via Collider