Why The Whodunnit Is Cool Again And Shines With Its Celeb Quotient

I was late to the Knives Out party, having caught the three films just a week before 2025 ended, and was nothing short of mystified by the attractive star cast, the seemingly big budget and the repeat orders. With three films and a series in the franchise, writer-director Rian Johnson has struck gold. Although none of the films provide the same kind of satiety that an Agatha Christie mystery novel does, they were all hugely successful and certainly a wave to ride on, as many other creators followed suit.

Several A-list actors are increasingly drawn to the whodunnit since the resurgence of the genre’s popularity, first with Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017), followed by Death on the Nile (2022)—both adaptations of iconic Agatha Christie novels. Knives Out (2019) has more than revived the genre; it has rewired it, making it larger, louder and flamboyant. It has also attracted stars in ensemble casts to the party, leading to great streaming success. Another interesting aspect of the genre is that the mystery formula lends itself to blending with other genres, such as comedy (Murder Mystery) (2019, 2022) or even social satire (Gosford Park) (2001).

As for the audience—we all love it when there is a murder to solve. We love the smell of clues and being able to tell them from the red herrings. Above all, we love to find out that we were right, but are equally thrilled when we are wrong. That is the power of a murder mystery. It’s a win-win all the way.

Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books also inspired a Netflix adaptation with major stars such as Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley. Only Murders in the Building (now in its third season) (2021–present) was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon—a popular comedy-mystery series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as neighbours who start a true crime podcast to solve a murder in their building. The show is also known for its major guest stars and recurring roles, which have included Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Renée Zellweger, Dianne Wiest and Eva Longoria, among others. Crime here becomes a way to explore loneliness, ageing, grief and the strange intimacy of strangers living parallel lives.

For Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown, 2021), Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Jamie Lee Curtis (Knives Out) or even Sarah Snook (All Her Fault, 2025) and Minnie Driver in the recent Run Away (2026), the genre has offered an opportunity to reinvent like never before.

For nearly 15 years, Craig carried the weight of James Bond—an icon built on control, competence and emotional restraint. When he re-emerged in Knives Out as Benoit Blanc, with his sing-song Southern drawl and theatrics, it felt more like an exhale, a freeing. Craig wasn’t just shedding Bond; he was stepping into a version of masculinity that allowed for eccentricity, fallibility and play

For Chris Evans, post his long tenure as Captain America in the Marvel franchise, OTT was a timely stop to expand his repertoire, with Defending Jacob (2020), the Apple TV crime drama in which he played an emotionally complex role of a father whose son is accused of murder, and then with the 2019 Knives Out, where he plays a charismatic, against-the-grain Ransom Drysdale amid an impressive ensemble cast.

Snook, post her Emmy-winning Shiv Roy in corporate drama Succession (2018-2023) was seeking projects that were “different”, perhaps warmer, more empathetic than Shiv. She plays Marissa Irvine in All Her Fault (2025)—a mother whose son goes missing after a playdate. Even though the Peacock series didn’t do as well as expected, Snook emotionally grounded the series and her performance was expansive and critically acclaimed.

In Mare of Easttown (2021), Winslet’s detective is grieving, exhausted and often can’t keep pace with her own town’s secrets. The murder mystery unfolds alongside themes of generational trauma, female rage and small-town suffocation.

But there is a decisive shift in the whodunnit and it’s no more about the all-knowing detective and the hunger for neat answers. The new whodunnit reflects a world where authority is suspect and truth arrives incomplete, often messy, making it one of the most flexible and actor-friendly genres today. What it also does well is flatten the star system and lets the ensemble thrive.

Contemporary mysteries like Mare of Easttown, Only Murders in the Building, and All Her Fault are less interested in solving crimes than in exposing social fault lines—bad parenting, class resentment, institutional failure and collective guilt. It’s less about whodunnit and more ‘whydunnit’. This evolution has made the genre unusually attractive to mainstream actors. Figures like Craig, Winslet and Snook are drawn to stories that favour ensemble dynamics and morally frayed characters with greater tonal range. They are flawed and weary, far removed from their star avatars. For stars long trapped in hero-centric storytelling, the modern whodunnit offers a playfulness with characters that are allowed to be compromised without explanation or redemption. Today’s mysteries aren’t about clever reveals or brilliant detectives but about social unease, moral ambiguity, and emotional fallout.

In India, whodunnits strip away the idea of the performative hero. Jaideep Ahlawat’s Hathiram Chaudhary in Paatal Lok (2020, 2025) is neither a hero nor articulate or morally superior, but his messiness and vulnerability is endearing. Shefali Shah in Delhi Crime (2019-2025) is calm and procedural, yet her authority emerges from her competence; Rasika Dugal, her associate, embodies a quiet intelligence and not overt strength. Sonakshi Sinha in Dahaad (2023) is just a woman doing her job and doing it well and Vijay Varma embodies menace through ordinariness.

This evolution reflects a cultural mood. Audiences today are suspicious of grand moral pronouncements and perfect endings. Shows like Paatal Lok, Dahaad, Delhi Crime and Kohrra (2023), often set in a social context, foreground atmosphere and systemic decay and nothing is tied up into a neat little package.

The whodunnit, once conservative in structure, has become one of the most flexible ways to dramatise ambiguity and dichotomy. Its renewed appeal lies not in murder but in permission—permission for stories to be unresolved, for characters to be morally blurred, and for actors to inhabit silence as much as revelation. In moving away from spectacle and towards social unease, the genre has become one of the most emotionally honest spaces in mainstream storytelling. The crime may be the hook, but it is the unease that keeps us watching.