Why Did Jodie Comer Leave The New Death On The Nile Film?

Have you seen the new trailer for Death on the Nile? It looks amazing. Kenneth Branagh is back as the Belgian detective (not French, guys, that's important) on the hunt for a killer on a boat sailing through Egypt, and he's joined by an incredible cast. With Wonder Woman's Gal Gadot, Call Me By Your Name's Armie Hammer, Black Panther actress Letitia Wright, Game Of Thrones star Rose Leslie, along with actual screen icons Annette Bening, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders and the amazing Sophie Okonedo, it's undoubtedly the greatest cast assembled since 2020. Russell Brand's in it too. But one person gets more screen time than anyone else in the trailer: Sex Education actress Emma Mackey plays Jackie, the lead role immortalised by Mia Farrow in the excellent 1978 adaptation.

It's so good to see Emma make the jump from TV to film, but it could have all been very different: Jodie Comer was originally cast in the part.

According to Kenneth himself - he is directing, as well as starring, as per his usual schtick - the Killing Eve actress was supposed to be in Death on the Nile. He didn't actually specify the role, but he told Empire that casting had been a difficult process. 'Yes. It's a big challenge. All being well, we have Gal Gadot, Jodie Comer and Armie Hammer. That central trio, I'm very excited about it.'

With Gal and Armie still very much involved - as Linnet and Simon - it stands to reason that Jodie was supposed to play Jackie, as anyone who's read the original book or seen resulting versions couldn't deny that these three roles are the 'central trio' in question.

And yet, Jodie is nowhere to be seen, having been replaced with the undoubtedly talented Emma. What happened?

Well, despite Kenneth's statement, Jodie was never part of an official casting announcement, so he may have revealed all prematurely. According to Jodie, it was just a case of timing. As a guest on podcast Happy Sad Confused, she was asked by host Josh Horowitz about her next projects, and she confirmed that scheduling conflicts had ruled out the role. In fact, she expressed surprise that her involvement was even public knowledge.

'No it's not [happening] sadly,' she said, 'because of conflicts of schedule. I'm gutted. But that kind of came out before anything had been set in stone.' Bad Kenneth, spreading gossip before contracts have been signed.

We're sad that we won't be seeing Jodie take on this amazing role, but we know that Emma is going to wow us.

Death on the Nile is in cinemas on October 9th 2020.