You Probably Missed This Major Cameo In Glass Onion

Noah Segan, the actor that played Trooper Wagner in Knives Out, returns in Glass Onion as the beer-loving Derol.

By Phillip Moyer | Updated

Glass Onion, the recently-released sequel to the Agatha Christieinspired Knives Out, practically has a cameo a minute. Among others, the movie features appearances from basketball legend Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, recently-deceased Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, and academy award-winning actor Ethan Hawke. However, there’s one less prominent cameo that might have skipped your notice. Pointed out on TikTok, Noah Segan, who played Trooper Wagner in Knives Out, showed up in Glass Onion as the beer-loving Derol. 

Glass Onion’s Noah Segan cameo might not be as flashy as the presence of A-list stars such as Angela Lansbury, Yo-Yo Ma, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Serena Williams, or Hugh Grant, but it has its unique charm. Rather than showing up just once, or playing a supporting role in the film, Segan’s character works almost like a running gag.

While the character played by Segan in Glass Onion shows up in multiple scenes, he could be removed entirely from the film without affecting the plot. Derol does not play a major role in the film and is usually only seen walking through the scenes inexplicably, usually carrying some beer. His presence is never really explained, though he’s the only character on Miles Bron‘s private island besides detective Benoit Blanc who has no actual connection to the billionaire technology magnate.

Don’t feel bad if you watched the entirety of Glass Onion without noticing this cameo, however, because despite being played by the same actor, the long-haired, mustachioed Derol looks nothing like the clean-cut Trooper Wagner. Trooper Wagner played a supporting role in the first film, helping investigate the death of Harlan Thrombey while swooning over the deceased mystery novelist’s estate. Wagner reveals himself to be a major Harlan Thrombey fanboy, pointing out items and references to Thrombey’s novels throughout the film.

Noah Segan as Derol in Glass Onion

His Glass Onion cameo makes Noah Segan the only actor besides Daniel Craig to appear in both of director Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out films. Besides the presence of Craig’s Benoit Blanc, there are no direct connections between the events or characters of the two movies. However, there are certainly thematic links between the two films — both Glass Onion and Knives Out revolve around the lives of famous billionaires, peeling back the outer layer of their success to reveal the less-savory parts of their lives and relationships.

Glass Onion is the first of two sequels to Knives Out that has been commissioned by Netflix — a somewhat ironic partnership, given that Netflix is spoken of derisively in the original, Lionsgate-produced film. Though, for $469 million, it was likely hard to turn down the deal regardless of his feeling about the platform. The plot of Glass Onion‘s upcoming sequel has not been announced, and it’s unclear whether Noah Segan will have another cameo in the next film. 

Glass Onion has one more connection to Knives Out, besides the cameo and the protagonist. This connection is the film’s full name, though it almost didn’t come to be. Rian Johnson reportedly didn’t want to include the name Knives Out in the sequel, but Netflix’s marketing heads prevailed and gave the sequel the full name Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.