Watch Out! ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ Is About To Be Netflix’s ‘Only Murders in the Building’

The Thursday Murder Club fans rejoice! The first installment of Richard Osman’s hilarious murder-mystery series is on its way to Netflix as an original motion picture. Interestingly enough, the film rights were gobbled up by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment before the first book’s release in 2020, but Hollywood moves at its own pace so it took some time for the adaptation to move ahead.

Not only is this a cause for celebration for the booklovers, but the film also holds the potential to be Netflix’s answer to Only Murders in the Building. Yes, it’s a movie – not a series – but it’s more than likely it receives a handful of sequels if it does the numbers on the streaming service (whatever that entails based on Netflix’s weird metric system that only it understands). 

Prepare to fall in love with compelling characters and outrageous storylines

The Thursday Murder Club follows the adventures of four pensioners – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim – who solve mysteries in their own unique and unusual fashion. Each character possesses a special skill or soft touch that makes them important to this group, and they succeed because of their differences – not in spite of them. More importantly, there’s a friendship and bond between the characters who are all in their advancing years in life. This is the time in which they are confronted with their own mortalities and the deaths and illnesses of others around them, but they lean on each other to deal with whatever comes their way. As much as The Thursday Murder Club is about crime capers, it’s about friendship too.

Speaking about how he conceptualized the protagonists, author Richard Osman said the following to The Sunday Post: “We are obsessed with young people, but people in their 70s have identical brains to those in their 50s or their 30s. Our circumstances change and our physicality changes and we have a great deal more experience, but we’re still as mischievous and interested and sparky as we always were.”

Aside from the colorful personalities, the novels catapult these characters into high-stakes and riotous scenarios. In the first book, for example, they need to investigate the murders of figures involved in a disputed property development. Since these individuals display questionable business practices, the list of suspects grows with every turn of the page. Now, it’s up to the gang to get to the bottom of it and find out who is responsible and why. This approach extends into every subsequent novel, as the mysteries also reveal more about the main characters and their respective backstories.

The Thursday Murder Club boasts pitch-perfect casting and a proven director

For every fan, there’s the real fear that the film won’t do the book justice. In the case of The Thursday Club, it’s too early to tell if that will be the case, but it has a few important elements in its favor. For one, the casting is the Avengers-tier level of amazing. Seriously, this ensemble screams perfection.

In terms of the fab four, Helen Mirren steps in the shoes of Elizabeth, Pierce Brosnan plays Ron, Ben Kingsley stars as Ibrahim, and Celia Imrie brings Joyce to life. That’s not all, though, as the likes of David Tennant, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Ackie, Tom Ellis, and Richard E. Grant all feature in some way. In comparison, Only Murders in the Building contains an impressive lead cast in the form of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, with a number of celebrated guest stars scattered across various seasons, but The Thursday Murder Club might one-up it here as it’s talent everywhere anyone looks.

Then, there’s the director and co-writer behind The Thursday Murder Club: Chris Columbus. Everyone knows Columbus for his work on Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire, but he’s the visionary who brought Harry Potter to the big screen in the first two films, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. A daunting task, especially considering how popular the novels were, but Columbus created the foundation for a film franchise that printed money in the billions and has become celebrated as one of the best book-to-film adaptations of all time. Unquestionably, The Thursday Murder Club finds itself in good hands here.

British productions dominate Netflix and other streaming services

According to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos (via Deadline), British shows, such as Bridgerton and Baby Reindeer, have become the most-watched programming on the streaming platform in the first half of 2024. The British invasion isn’t only on Netflix, though, as Prime Video has also seen a significant rise in viewership for the programming. This all points to the fact that global audiences want more shows and movies from across the pond, and streamers would be wise to pay attention to it.

The Thursday Murder Club is about as British as it comes – not only in terms of its cast, but also in its quirky sense of humor and special way of telling stories. Right now, all the stars are aligning for the movie as it’s arriving in a period in which the mystery comedy genre has never been hotter – thanks to shows like Only Murders in the Building – and British programming remains in hot demand. It’s time for everyone to strap in and buckle up because the next big film franchise is on the way and its name is The Thursday Murder Club.