Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery: everything we know so far about Netflix’s Knives Out 3 movie

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will be the next entry in Rian Johnson’s popular whodunit movie series. The second of two films that the writer-director is making for Netflix, it’ll see Johnson team up with Daniel Craig once more, with the latter adopting his most recent acting role as the debonair, southern-states detective known as Benoit Blanc

So, what do we know about Knives Out 3 ahead of its Netflix debut, which will be sometime in 2025? Below, we’ve compiled the latest evidence on the forthcoming flick, including our thoughts on when it may arrive on the streaming titan, its confirmed cast, early story teases, and more. Potential spoilers for Wake Up Dead Man follow, so turn back now if you’re avoiding them ahead of launch.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery doesn’t have a release date yet. However, as the above X/Twitter post confirms, it’ll debut on Netflix sometime in 2025.

It’s still on course to land next year, too. In June 2024, Johnson confirmed principal photography had begun. A very swift two months later, Johnson announced (via Instagram) that filming had wrapped.

With its post-production phase in full effect, we’re hopeful that it won’t be too long before Knives Out 3 arrives. That said, its predecessors arrived in November 2019 and December 2022 respectively, so it’s likely Johnson and company will look to release Wake Up Dead Man in late 2025. Our guess? Given its spooky title, an October 2025 launch would be most fitting.

There’s no official trailer for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery yet. We’ll update this section once one is publicly revealed.

Here’s the confirmed cast for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery so far:

• Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc
• Josh Brolin as Father Frank
• Mila Kunis as G. Scott
• Josh O’Connor as TBC
• Glenn Close as TBC
• Andrew Scott as TBC
• Jeremy Renner as TBC
• Kerry Washington as TBC
• Cailee Spaeny as TBC
• Daryl McCormack as TBC

Obviously, Craig is back as the louche Blanc. Following his exploits as infamous British spy James Bond, it looks to be a recurring role that he’s very happy to continue playing. Indeed, Benoit looks like he’s had a little makeover for this new outing, with everyone’s favorite bumbling detective sporting longer hair and a little stubble, albeit with a typically dandy-ish suit and hat.

Just like the previous two Knives Out films, Blanc will be joined by an eclectic group of characters portrayed by some serious talented actors. The first announcement came in late May, with Cailee Spaeny and Josh O’Connor confirmed to have signed up for undisclosed roles. One day later, Knives Out 3 was confirmed to be a mini Bond reunion of sorts after Andrew Scott was revealed as part of the cast. He starred opposite Craig in Spectre (find out where it sits in our how to watch best Daniel Craig Bond movies ranked article while you’re here).

Four more big names were added to Wake Up Dead Man‘s roster on May 30, and one of those hires – Mila Kunis – ended up riling up Netflix users. The final three additions, aka Josh Brolin, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church, were revealed by the trades before May ended, too.

Right now, only the identities of Kunis and Brolin’s characters have been revealed. We’ll find out who everyone else is playing in the months ahead.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery‘s story brief hasn’t been unveiled yet. Indeed, the only thing we actually know, aside from its cast and writer/director, about Knives Out 3 is its official title, which people have turned into amateur detectives over to try and work out what it means.

It’s no great secret that Johnson’s Knives Out films have been inspired by Agatha Christie. This time, though, we might get to experience something completely different. Indeed, in January 2023, he told Variety: “[That’s] what’s got me creatively jazzed. I don’t have to replicate the last movie at all. The goal is to strike out in a completely new direction tonally and thematically.”

In the Instagram announcing Knives Out 3, which simply comprise footage of a black coffin, the drawling Blanc calls Wake Up Dead Man‘s case “my most dangerous case yet”, too, which suggests his latest murder mystery might not be so easy to solve.

We don’t expect the franchise’s third installment to be wholly different to what’s comes before, mind you. What ties the previous two Knives Out films together – alongside the murders – are themes of class war, inequality, fame and, like a lot of TV and film dramas of the moment, the skewering of the one percenters. So, it’s likely that these issues will also continue to have a light shone on them in Johnson’s own, unique way.

There are already some fascinating fan theories circulating online that Johnson could have planted a little Easter egg in Glass Onion to suggest what Knives Out 3 could be about, too. Early on in the film, when all the characters meet at the dock of Miles Bron’s Greek island, the assembled guests are surprised to see Blanc. Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn) soon pipes up to ask: “Did you solve the murder of – oh, whatshername – the ballet dancer thing, that’s you?”, which some viewers suspect is a hint at Wake Up Dead Man‘s plot. Could we be in for a ballet-themed murder mystery next? Whether it is or isn’t, Johnson’s lips are sealed – for now.

Love the kitsch murder mystery franchise? Well, you’re in luck, as Johnson and Craig say they want to continue making the fun films together as long as they can, which makes a Knives Out 4 look very likely.

Speaking with Variety in 2022, Craig said: “If he [Johnson] keeps writing them, I’ll keep doing them. That’s what makes it easy then, he’s such a wonderful writer that it’s there on the page for me to do.”

However, the duo are conscious of the ‘quality versus quantity’ debate. Speaking with Deadline in November 2022 about a possible fourth movie in the Knives Out franchise, Craig said: “If there ever came a point where either Rian and I thought we were just churning them out, I think we would back away. I mean, I just don’t think that’s what either of us want to do in life. Unless people are getting genuine fun out of them, forget it.”

Meanwhile, in January 2023, Johnson chatted to Netflix Tudum about the possibilities of, as requested by fans, a Knives Out/The Muppets crossover. He discounted it in the end, though, explaining: “I think those two things have very different rules. You can either have a Benoit Blanc mystery that has Muppets in it, but they’ll feel out of place. Or you can have a Muppet movie that Benoit Blanc is in, but it’ll feel like a Muppet movie. I wouldn’t want to compromise either of them. And, I feel like in order to make it well and make it work, you’d have to make a choice and compromise one or the other. If I ever make a Muppet movie, I just want to make a great Muppet movie.”

For more Netflix coverage, read our guides on Stranger Things season 5, The Night Agent season 2, Bridgerton season 4, and One Piece season 2.