First Look At The Thursday Murder Club, Coming In August

The hotly anticipated Netflix adaptation of Richard Osman’s 2020 bestseller The Thursday Murder Club finally has a release date. Starring everyone from Richard E. Grant and Tom Ellis to David Tennant, Dame Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan, here’s everything you need to know – plus when we will get to see it.

The Thursday Murder Club Movie: Plot, Cast, Release Date

Sir Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren & Pierce Brosnan in The Thursday Murder Club. (Giles Keyte/Netflix)

What Is The Thursday Murder Club About?

The Thursday Murder Club is an adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel of the same name, which follows a group of four friends living in a retirement home, who meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. The first in the series was published in 2020, and sees the gang (Elizabeth, Rob, Joyce and Ibrahim) coming together to attempt to solve the murder of a property developer. Three others followed, all of which have been a huge success: the second, The Man Who Died Twice, was one of the fastest-selling novels since records began. The most recent, The Last Devil to Die, was released in September 2023, with a fifth instalment, The Impossible Fortune, slated for September 2025. 

The Thursday Murder Club movie will follow the plot of the first novel in the series. The synopsis is as follows:

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.

But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?

Celia Imrie, Naomi Ackie & Sir Ben Kingsley in The Thursday Murder Club. (Giles Keyte/Netflix)

Who Is In The Cast?

As mentioned above, there’s some serious acting talent in The Thursday Murder Club. The central quartet is being played by Dame Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie, alongside David Tennant, Richard E. Grant and Tom Ellis.

The cast will also include Daniel Mays, Naomi Ackie, Jonathan Pryce and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.

The full cast list is as follows:

• Helen Mirren as Elizabeth, an ex-spy
• Ben Kingsley as Ibrahim, ex-psychiatrist
• Pierce Brosnan as Ron, ex-union activist
• Celia Imrie as Joyce, ex-nurse
• Naomi Ackie
• Daniel Mays
• Henry Lloyd-Hughes
• Tom Ellis
• Jonathan Pryce
• David Tennant
• Paul Freeman
• Geoff Bell
• Richard E Grant
• Ingrid Oliver

Sir Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Celia Imrie & Richard Osman. (Courtesy of Netflix © 2024)

Speaking about the film on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, Osman said: ‘There’s some great names and some more names coming as well. I think this is the greatest British cast assembled since the [Harry Potter] movies.’ He also said there were some more names to be announced, so watch this space. 

Chris Columbus, known for classics like Harry Potter and Home Alone, will be writing and directing the film, which is being produced as a collaboration between Netflix and production company Amblin. 

‘This is the finest cast I’ve worked with since Potter,’ Columbus tells Netflix. ‘They’re just so incredibly well-prepared, and it’s because they do everything. They do theatre, they do television, they do film, and they’ve developed those sorts of muscles.’

‘I’m so proud of this book, so it is a dream to see The Thursday Murder Club in such incredible hands,’ said Osman. ‘From Chris Columbus, to Amblin to Netflix, there are geniuses everywhere I look. And what a cast. I’m pinching myself.’

Celia Imrie, Sir Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan in The Thursday Murder Club. (Giles Keyte/Netflix)

Is It Based On A True Story?

No, The Thursday Murder Club isn’t based on a true story, but author Osman mined inspiration from his own mother’s retirement home. ‘You just sit and chat with these people and they’ve lived these extraordinary lives,’ he tells Netflix. ‘You hear these amazing stories and gossip and wisdom, and you think, “These people are so overlooked.”

‘The idea that these people with their wisdom and their invisibility would be the perfect people to solve [a crime] is exactly where The Thursday Murder Club comes from,’ Osman says. ‘Take these people who are underestimated but who have these incredible skills, put them together, and they can achieve anything.’

The Thursday Murder Club Release Date

The Thursday Murder Club will launch on Netflix on Thursday 28 August 2025. Apt.