‘Wake Up Dead Man’: Director Rian Johnson Teases the Future of the ‘Knives Out’ Franchise!!

Back in 2019, Knives Out was a welcome addition to the murder-mystery genre. The pairing of a detective with a peculiar personality and a cast of deliciously evil suspects made for a highly entertaining whodunit, and Netflix was quick to pick up on it and order two sequels. Now that Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is close to premiering, though, fans can’t help but wonder: Is this the last we’ll see of Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig)? During a new interview with Collider for the second season of his whodunnit series Poker Face, director and screenwriter Rian Johnson talked about the future of the franchise.

Johnson told Collider‘s Christina Radish that the excitement to keep going is still there. However, he also revealed that there are other projects he wants to work on. The filmmaker also teased that, much like Glass Onion was wildly different from the first movie, Wake Up Dead Man will also be a major tonal shift. He stated:

“As long as Daniel [Craig] still wants to keep doing it and as long as we have an idea that, to us, feels not just like cranking another one out, but feels genuinely exciting and scary like, ‘Oh, wow, could we pull that off?’ I love the genre. It’s endlessly malleable, and so it holds endless possibilities. But at the same time, I have made three of them in a row. I don’t feel burnt out on it at all, but the next thing I have in my head to write is an original that’s not a mystery at all. It’s a totally different genre. One of the things I love about the mystery genre is that it holds the whodunit. Like sci-fi, it encompasses so many other types of genres. ‘Wake Up Dead Man,’ this next movie, is so different than ‘Glass Onion.’ It’s like night and day. And so, as long as we keep doing that, it’s exciting.”

What Do We Know About ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’?

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will once again see Benoit Blanc investigating a murder while dealing with a long list of suspects. Netflix is keeping details of the plot under lock and key, but with we’ll likely hear more soon as the film is expected to be released sometime this year.

The star-studded cast features Josh O’Connor (Challengers), Josh Brolin (Weapons), Jeremy Renner (Mayor of Kingstown), Mila Kunis (Luckiest Girl Alive), Glenn Close (Back in Action), Cailee Spaeny (Alien: Romulus), Kerry Washington (The Six Triple Eight), Daryl McCormack (Bad Sisters), Thomas Haden Church (Twisted Metal) and Andrew Scott (Ripley).