Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series of movies continues this year with Wake Up Dead Man being among Netflix’s 2025 releases. So, as we approach Benoit Blanc’s latest case, if you’re wondering whether it will be the cap-off to a trilogy or simply another entry, the writer/director has offered his take on the subject.
Rian Johnson Shares Thoughts On The Future Of The Knives Out
On the heels of Johnson closing out the critically acclaimed second season of Poker Face, the filmmaker was asked about how he’s feeling about the future of his other mystery-based project, the Knives Out movies. In his words to Rolling Stone:
I feel great! Because I have genuinely taken a swing each time that I didn’t think would work. Ultimately, that’s the thing you’re trying to avoid. The second you feel like you know how to do this, that leads nowhere good. So I feel fantastic. And with the movies, we can keep doing that. I don’t have something in my head right now. You kind of burn the ship into the sea each time and ask yourself, ‘How will I make anything ever again?’ But I would keep doing them as long as I can.
Now, Knives Out 4 doesn’t seem to be in development yet, but from where Rian Johnson stands, it sounds like Wake Up Dead Man will not be the end of the Benoit Blanc series. The filmmaker hasn’t stopped having fun with his original murder mystery concept, and as long as that’s central to the experience, there could be many more Knives Out mysteries ahead of us.
Johnson also told the magazine that what he ends up “chasing” when making a movie or TV show is “the experience.” And, he’s not looking to feel like he’s “eating the same thing for lunch every day” when it comes to his work. In terms of Knives Out, because he’s had the chance to play with tone and genre each time, he’s happy to keep playing within the universe. But, that being said, he also has hopes to make a musical at some point, and is currently writing a “stand-alone thing” as his “next thing.”
What’s Going On With Knives Out 3?
Here’s what we know so far about Wake Up Dead Man.Once again, Benoit Blanc will be going to a whole new setting for his next case, and this one seems to revolve around some kind of “impossible crime” that is being “dressed as a miracle” with a church being a key setting. Based on the marketing so far, Josh O’Connor seems to be a major lynchpin of the movie. Check out the Wake Up Dead Man teaser below:
Once again, the cast is very much stacked for the latest Benoit Blanc mystery, with Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, and Daniel Craig, of course, all being involved.
The movie will be available to watch with a Netflix subscription on December 12. And it seems like there will be more mysteries afoot in the future if Rian Johnson has anything to say about it.
