Daniel Craig in “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”
Netflix
Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, starring Daniel Craig, is new on Netflix on Friday. Is Johnson planning on any more cases for Craig’s private detective, Benoit Blanc?
Craig plays Blanc for the third time in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, after establishing the character 2019’s Knives Out and reprising the role in 2022’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Since each Knives Out Mystery features a new ensemble cast and setting, Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man are standalone stories that don’t have any narrative ties, with the exception, of course, that Blanc is investigating a murder in each one of them.
Effectively, Blanc is the modern-day equivalent of Agatha Christie’s private Detective Hercule Poirot, who most recently has been realized on the big screen by Kenneth Branagh in Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and A Haunting in Venice.
Like Poirot, the potential is there for Blanc to investigate more murder mysteries should Johnson and his longtime producer, Ram Bergman, choose to pursue them. The good news is that, even while Johnson has fulfilled his obligation to Netflix to make two Knives Out Mystery movies, he’s game to make more.
The big question that hasn’t been answered yet is when, since Johnson has decided to make another original movie next instead of a new chapter in the Knives Out franchise.
“It’s definitely not because I’m burned out. In fact, I feel energized after making this one. I feel excited about the possibilities of, ‘OK, if we can do this, what else can we do with the murder mystery?’” Johnson told Variety ahead of the film’s limited theatrical run in November. “But I had this other idea I’d been cooking for a while, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ve done three of these in a row. I’ll give Daniel a little break from me and go up and do something else.’”
One thing that’s for certain is that, whenever another Knives Out Mystery emerges, Johnson — much like he did for his first three Knives Out movies — will be casting a whole new ensemble of actors.
“I love the fact that each one of these is entirely its own case, entirely its own mystery,” Johnson said in a different interview with Variety. “I love actors, I want to keep working with new actors, too. At this point, I like the idea of having a new group of folks each time.”
On Johnson’s wish list of ensemble players for a future Knives Out movie is a three-time Best Actress Oscar winner who, oddly enough, guest-starred in the hit mystery series Only Murders in the Building.
“I feel like Meryl Streep would kill it. She was born to be in one of these movies; she’s hilarious,” Johnson told Variety.
However, the director said he must first make acquaintances with the acting great.
“I don’t know her at all,” Johnson told Variety with a laugh.
What Is ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ About?
The official synopsis for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery reads, “Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus.
“When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews.
“Wicks’ modest but devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly wound lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), bestselling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).
“After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.”
Rated PG-13, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is still playing in select theaters and begins streaming on Netflix on Friday.
