Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery has a stellar cast, and here is every character they play in the movie ranked worst to best. Glass Onion takes the franchise across the Atlantic to Europe, with Benoit Blanc dropped in the midst of another murder mystery he must solve. Alongside him is a colorful cast of characters all played to perfection by the film’s actors.
Like the first Knives Out, Glass Onion‘s biggest strength is its cast. Combining these actors and actresses with Rian Johnson’s incredibly witty script, Glass Onion is one of 2022’s best movies. Like its predecessor, the movie flips the murder mystery genre on its head and delivers a hilarious, suspenseful, thoroughly enjoyable ride that is only bolstered by Glass Onion’s cast and characters. It is worth noting that Glass Onion does not have any “bad” characters, with all of them being exceptionally fun to watch. That being said, here is every character ranked from worst to best.
Peg
Peg is played by Jessica Henwick in Glass Onion and is Birdie Jay’s assistant. Unfortunately, Peg ranks lowest amongst the Glass Onion characters for one reason only: she was not given enough to do. Henwick plays Peg exceptionally well and elevates the character to become one of the most purely likable members of Glass Onion’s ensemble. Despite this, Peg gets little-to-no development and is only present in the plot due to being Birdie’s assistant who unfortunately overshadows Peg with her over-the-top antics.
That being said, Peg holds the crown of earning one of the biggest laughs in Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion when she questions her boss over what she thinks a sweatshop is. Regrettably, this is not enough to lift Peg above her peers despite Henwick’s performance. This is simply due to not being given enough screen time, with Glass Onion’s script opting to have a bigger focus on the rest of its ensemble.
Duke Cody
Coming in at second-to-last is Dave Bautista’s Duke Cody. Duke is a YouTube streamer and men’s rights activist who uses his attractive girlfriend to gain advantages in his professional life and is obsessed with guns. Clearly, it is not hard to see why Duke ranks among the lowest of Glass Onion’s characters, as he is made to be intentionally brash and unlikeable. All that being said, Duke is played exceptionally by Bautista, whose usual lovable self disappears into a character that is fun to hate.
Above all else, Duke is written intentionally to be disliked by Johnson, and MCU regular Dave Bautista steps up to the plate in the Glass Onion movie plot to deliver this. Despite the love-to-hate aspect of Duke, and Bautista’s performance, his death midway through the film means he does not get as much chance to shine as his costars. This, combined with the less-than-desirable aspects of Duke, rank him among the bottom of Glass Onion’s many fantastic characters.
Lionel Toussaint
Lionel Toussaint – Miles Bron’s and Alpha’s top scientist – is played by Leslie Odom Jr. The scientist ranks low purely due to the character’s much more serious persona. While Odom Jr. is great in the role and imbues Lionel with a quiet-yet-cool intelligence rarely found in Netflix’s Glass Onion characters, Lionel’s quiet demeanor is simply much less fun to watch than the cooky antics of his peers. Also, Lionel’s job as Alpha’s head scientist gives him unlikable qualities with his willingness to endorse Klear despite the risk it holds to the general public. For these reasons, Lionel ranks among Glass Onion’s bottom three characters.
Andi Brand
As allowed by Glass Onion’s central twist, Janelle Monáe’s Andi is the first of two characters the actress plays. For the first two acts of Glass Onion, the film makes audiences think that Andi is the one present on Miles’ island, before pulling the rug out and revealing Andi as Helen, the former’s twin sister. Andi is only ever shown in flashbacks after this and plays a minimal part in the film. While ranking Andi above the likes of the movie’s Jessica Henwick as Peg could be hypocritical because of this, Andi’s plight is one of the more heartfelt of the film.
Andi’s backstory is fairly tragic, making her instantly more sympathetic than the majority of other characters. From the loss of her company to her death at the hands of Miles, Andi’s sad backstory means that the character sticks in audiences’ minds despite not actually appearing in the film that much. This, combined with Monáe’s brilliant duel performance rank Andi as Glass Onion’s seventh-best character.
Claire Debella
One of the middle-of-the-road characters of Glass Onion is Kathryn Hahn’s Claire Debella. Claire is the governor of Connecticut who is running for the Senate before going to Miles’ island. One of the major things that lifts Claire’s role in the movie is Hahn herself. As is known from the majority of Hahn’s work – more recently WandaVision – she can sink her teeth into any comedic script in a way that many other actors cannot. Hahn delivers these moments to perfection throughout Glass Onion‘s plot, which elevates Claire above her disappointing lack of screen time and depth.
Whiskey
At first, Madelyn Cline’s Whiskey is portrayed as just as unlikable as her boyfriend, Dukem with Johnson’s nonlinear narrative portraying her as romantically unfaithful to boot. However, later in Glass Onion, Whiskey becomes a lot more deep and sympathetic. Rather than be relegated to nothing more than Duke’s girlfriend, Whiskey gets much more dimension. After the reveal that Whiskey wants to get a law degree and move away from Duke’s manipulative ways, Whiskey becomes instantly more likable. When combined with her spear gun defense and decisive albeit wrong accusations, Whiskey solidifies herself as one of Glass Onion’s more simply charming characters.
Birdie Jay
Rounding out the top four Glass Onion characters is Kate Hudson’s Birdie Jay. Interestingly, Birdie is almost as unlikeable as the likes of Duke Cody, yet has a surreal draw thanks to Kate Hudson’s insanely energetic performance in the role. Hudson imbues Jay with a complete lack of common sense that is almost endearing, allowing her to have some of the funniest scenes in the film.
This, combined with the uproarious way Birdie takes over almost every scene she is in, places her as one of the movie’s purely memorable characters – which is no small feat given Glass Onion’s many unforgettable cameos. Despite her lack of empathy for everyone around her, with the film’s pandemic setting elevating this, Birdie Jay is simply immensely fun to watch, placing her above the movie’s other characters.
Miles Bron
Edward Norton’s Miles Bron is the billionaire tech bro at the center of Glass Onion’s setting. The character is played to perfection by Edward Norton, who effortlessly captures the narcissistic traits of wealthy billionaires, intended to parallel the likes of Elon Musk and Steve Jobs. On top of this, Bron’s easygoing nature makes him almost likable at first, before the film reveals him as a completely incompetent murderer and an intolerable person after his ousting of Andi from Alpha. All of this goes to make Bron one of the film’s more compelling characters, given his twist from obnoxious-yet-harmless billionaire to conniving and amateurish villain.
Benoit Blanc
Taking the silver medal is Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc. Like the first film, Blanc is only bested by the true heart of Glass Onion in terms of other characters and remains one of the best modern detective creations. Daniel Craig’s performance is yet again outstanding, ranging from outlandish, eccentric hilarity to somewhat awkward, introverted, yet heartfelt empathy in a way that many actors could not pull off. Blanc is yet again shown to be kooky and over-the-top while still being a very competent detective. As with Knives Out, Glass Onion gives just enough of Blanc’s backstory to keep him interesting, making audiences wish for more of the detective in Knives Out 3.
Helen Brand
However taking the crown for Glass Onion’s best new character is Janelle Monáe’s second performance as Helen, Andi’s identical twin sister. Similar to Marta, played by Ana de Armas in the first Knives Out movie, Helen is the true heart of the film. She, much like her predecessor, serves as the endearing everyman character in a sea of rich, eccentric personalities.
With the rest of the characters being largely undesirable people, Helen sticks out from the crowd as the moral compass of the film, trying to find her sister’s murderer and avenge her death. This, combined with Monáe’s performance and Helen’s connection to Blanc, make her the standout character of Glass Onion. Indeed, the only real downside of Helen Brand as a character is that audiences will likely not see more of her in Knives Out 3.