Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express, in which he will star as Detective Hercule Poirot, is compiling quite a star-studded ensemble, one to almost rival that of Sidney Lumet’s 1974 version.
The Hollywood Reporter has been passing along names attached to the remake and also revealed whom each actor is playing. Check out the cast and character roster below and see their equivalent star from the first adaptation 42 years ago.
Johnny Depp is Mr. Samuel Ratchett (previously played by Richard Widmark): the biggest name of the bunch has the honor of playing the man who is titularly murdered. But his demise isn’t immediate, and he actually approaches Detective Poirot about his fears of being killed on the train.
Michelle Pfeiffer is Mrs. Hubbard (previously played by Lauren Bacall): an annoyingly talkative upper-class American woman. Pfeiffer and Depp previously worked together in Dark Shadows, pictured above.
Dame Judi Dench is Princess Dragomiroff (previously played by Wendy Hiller): an unlikeable old Russian princess. Dench and Branagh recently worked together for a stage production of The Winter’s Tale, pictured above.
Daisy Ridley is Mary Debenham (previously played by Vanessa Redgrave): a working-class English woman.
Lucy Boynton is Countess Andreny (previously played by Jacqueline Bisset): Hungarian royalty.
Leslie Odom Jr. is Dr. Arbuthnot (previously played by Sean Connery): apparently a doctor in this version, the original character was a colonel in the British army.
Sir Derek Jacobi is Edward Masterman (previously played by John Gielgud): Ratchett’s valet, who in the 1974 movie is renamed Beddoes. Jacobi and Branagh have worked together many times, including on the 1996 Hamlet film pictured above.
Tom Bateman is M. Bouc (sort of previously played by Martin Balsam): the operator of the Orient Express, he is also a former officer of the Belgian police, where he worked with Poirot. The comic-relief character is not in the 1974 movie, which features an Italian character, Bianchi, in his place.
Michael Pena is Marquez: a Cuban passenger who isn’t in the book or the previous movie but may be a substitute for one of the original characters.
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot (previously played by Albert Finney): the internationally famous detective, star of many of Christie’s books.
There are other notable characters not yet cast or at least not yet announced, including those roles previously filled by Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Jean-Pierre Cassel and Michael York. Check out the 1974 version’s trailer here:
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There have been other adaptations for TV since Lumet’s film, too, with an updated 2001 version starring Alfred Molina as Poirot and a 2010 episode of the David Suchet-led series Agatha Christie’s Poirot. The latter featured such guest stars as Jessica Chastain (as Debenham), Barbara Hershey (Hubbard), Toby Jones (Ratchett) and Hugh Bonneville (Masterman).