LOS ANGELES - Kenneth Branagh is teasing the return of old friends in his planned sequel to Murder on the Orient Express. Branagh is expected to both direct and reprise his role as the fancifully mustachioed lead character Detective Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, another mystery based on an Agatha Christie novel, which screenwriter Michael Green will return to adapt. Branagh says he's excited to gather an ensemble cast that could possibly include bringing back some old friends to explore primal human emotions that make for a very dangerous atmosphere. The tense whodunit Murder on the Orient Express featured an all-star cast including Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz and Michelle Pfeiffer. It was a global hit after its release in early November. Branagh says he was glad to see audiences responding to his quirky portrayal of Poirot and looks forward to seeing how that will evolve in the sequel. One of the things that I liked - really loved doing here that the audience responded to was that Hercule Poirot, for all his intellectual power, got dragged into it, got dragged into feeling it. And I think it's a hell of a trip, that trip down the Nile. So I think it would be great to see how he, how his heart, responds to that kind of intensity, he said. Christie's 1937 novel, Death on the Nile, was previously adapted into a 1978 film starring Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow and Maggie Smith. - AP