Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out trilogy has found Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery incredibly well-received, as it plays into the strengths of the series, with Benoit Blanc’s (Daniel Craig) charisma and a fascinating mystery, while also making its third installment thoroughly unique in how it is shot and how it incorporates religion. Of course, before the first trailer even dropped, the first question on everyone’s mind was just who Johnson would get to join Craig, and just how many A-listers could he fit in? It has always been fun to watch these ensemble casts, as they provide an opportunity to see several actors with strong presences interact on screen in fascinating and colorful ways. However, while it will be Daniel Craig that most viewers recognize as carrying over to each cast, two other actors appear in all three Knives Out films, albeit in minor roles compared to Craig, and it is no surprise who they are when you look at Johnson’s previous long-time collaborators.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Noah Segan Appear in All Three ‘Knives Out’ Films
Fear not, you won’t have to trawl through all three films to figure out who these actors are. It is Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Noah Segan who are the only other actors to have roles in each of Johnson’s murder mysteries. If you feel shamed at not recognizing such an A-list actor, such as Gordon-Levitt, you do not need to be, as they are incredibly difficult cameos to spot, since all three have only included his voice, with Gordon-Levitt not appearing on-screen once. The Inception star plays the voice of a character in a TV series in the first Knives Out, named Detective Hardrock, and then says one word in Glass Onion, where he is the hourly “dong” for Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton) clock. Segan’s roles are more prominent: he plays the state trooper who idolizes Blanc in the first film and Daryl in the sequel, a man who just roams Miles’ island doing nothing, which some viewers saw as a nod to the title, Glass Onion, since it felt like he was going to have a crucial impact, and never did.
In Wake Up Dead Man, Gordon-Levitt continues the trend of his audio-based roles, as he plays a baseball commentator during a game that Samson (Thomas Haden Church) is watching in his garage, and he can be heard saying: “Magic, get that big W with it, and here comes the pitch.” Once again, Segan is given an on-screen role, as he plays a bar owner named Nikolai who owns the wolf head lamp, saying one of the key lines of the film when he mentions that he has multiple of these lamps after Jud (Josh O’Connor) rips the head off one, hinting at the use of a second wolf head in killing Monsignor Jefferson (Josh Brolin).
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Noah Segan Are Long-Time Collaborators of Rian Johnson
It perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise that both actors have had cameos in every Knives Out film so far, since both have appeared in every one of Johnson’s films to date in some way or another. Both actors began their partnership with Johnson in 2005’s Brick,with Gordon-Levitt leading the film and going on to be the leading man in the 2012 sci-fi thriller, Looper. Some of these roles are as equally hard to spot as in Wake Up Dead Man, such as Segan’s uncredited cameo in Breaking Bad Season 5, Episode 14, “Ozymandias,” where he plays a firefighter who finds Holly after Walt (Bryan Cranston) leaves her at a fire station.
There may be some wondering why actors would take such inconsequential roles, and perhaps they don’t understand the interconnected nature of Hollywood, or how friends would always want to work together where possible. The cameos may not affect the film’s plot, but that doesn’t mean they are pointless. They add another layer to the game Johnson plays with his audience. While everyone else is looking closely for clues that will ultimately be revealed in the third act during a Blanc monologue, there are those looking even more closely. They know Gordon-Levitt and Segan will appear somewhere, but they also risk missing the cameos and facing the low-stakes shame of having to look up the information afterward.
Wake Up Dead Man is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
- Release Date
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November 26, 2025
- Runtime
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145 minutes
- Director
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Rian Johnson
- Writers
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Rian Johnson
- Producers
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Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson
