Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is ready to solve another mystery.
Craig will reprise his detective role in the third installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films, Wake Up Dead Man, written and directed by Johnson.
The original Knives Out film, which featured an ensemble cast that included Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ana de Armas, was released in 2019 at the Toronto Film Festival ahead of its theatrical debut. Following its release, the film became a surprise box office and critical smash whodunit for Lionsgate that earned Johnson an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.
Johnson told The Hollywood Reporter, “Even when we were making the first movie, I was thinking, ‘If this does well, it would be fun to keep making them, but always in the way that Agatha Christie did her books.’”
Netflix agreed, unveiling a $469 million deal with Johnson and his producing partner at T-Street, Ram Bergman, both of whom are represented by CAA for a two-film deal for the Knives Out sequels. Details of the deal included that Johnson doesn’t have to take notes from the streamer, that Craig must star in the sequels and that each must have at least the budget of the 2019 movie, which was in the $40 million range.
The second film, Knives Out: Glass Onion, which starred Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe and Edward Norton, was released in 2022. For the sequel, Johnson was inspired by “the idea of a murder mystery on vacation” and Agatha Christie’s Poirot mysteries Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun. “I thought it’d be nice to have an island because then you can isolate everyone together. And who would have a private island? Oh, maybe it’s a tech billionaire,” he told THR.
The third film, titled Wake Up Dead Man, will release globally on Netflix in Fall 2025 and once again star an ensemble of notable names such as Kerry Washington, Glenn Close and Jeremy Renner in his first film since his snowplow accident.
Below, THR shares everything we know so far about the upcoming murder mystery.
This story originally published on June 3, 2024 at 2:30 p.m.
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Title
“The next Benoit Blanc mystery, the follow-up to Knives Out and Glass Onion, is called Wake Up Dead Man,” writer-director Rian Johnson revealed on X, formerly Twitter.
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Cast
Image Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Santiago Felipe/Getty Images; Jemal Countess/Getty Images; Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images The first two Knives Out films had no shortage of big names starring in the ensemble, and the third installment is no different. For Wake Up Dead Man, the cast includes Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Josh O’Connor, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny and Daryl McCormack. Daniel Craig will also reprise his role as Benoit Blanc in the movie.
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Plot
Though the film’s title and cast have been announced, plot details are still being kept under wraps. When announcing the film’s title, Netflix vaguely teased of the plot, “That’s right, Daniel Craig is back as the suave Southern investigator in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, a new installment of the whodunnit franchise written and directed by Rian Johnson. Blanc will be unraveling a brand new murder mystery in an as-yet-undisclosed setting, surrounded by a new colorful cast of suspects.” In a teaser video, a voiceover from Craig as Benoit was featured. “In the beginning, the knives came out. Then behold, the glass was shattered,” Detective Blanc says. “But my most dangerous case yet is about to be revealed.”
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Release Date
Though an exact date hasn’t been set, the film will release on Netflix globally in Fall 2025.
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Production
Image Credit: X/@rianjohnson On June 10, Johnson tweeted that production has officially begun on the third film. Taking to social media, Johnson shared a photo of Craig in character as Benoit, seemingly having longer hair than usual. “Aaaaand we’re off! Today is day 1 of shooting on the next Benoit Blanc mystery ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ – see you on the other side,” Johnson tweeted.
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