'Wake Up Dead Man' Officially Begins Filming

The second Knives Out movie, Glass Onion hit Netflix in December 2022. Now, news has started to come out about a third Knives Out, featuring Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc once again.

The third film, Wake Up Dead Man, is being touted as Blanc's "most dangerous case yet." In a teaser announcing the title, Craig narrates as Blanc, "In the beginning, the knives came out. Then, behold, the glass was shattered. But my most dangerous case yet is about to be revealed." Watch here:

"I love everything about whodunnits, but one of the things I love most is how malleable the genre is," Johnson said in May 2024. "There’s a whole tonal spectrum from Carr to Christie, and getting to explore that range is one of the most exciting things about making Benoit Blanc movies. We’re about to go into production on the 3rd one, and I’m very, very excited to share the title, which gives a little hint of where it’s going."

Here's everything we know so far about Wake Up Dead Man, the third Benoit Blanc whodunnit:

Rian Johnson wants to emulate Agatha Christie.

Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Knives Out and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, will also write and direct the third film.

"I’ve never really been interested in doing sequels, but this, the idea of doing more of these with Daniel as his character, is not sequels," Johnson explained to Uproxx. “It’s just what Agatha Christie did. It’s just coming up with a whole new mystery, a whole new location, all new cast, whole new mechanics of the appeal of a mystery and everything. It’d be a blast."

After the Thanksgiving premiere of the second film, Johnson shared he's ready to begin work on the third. "It’s interesting," he told Deadline. "We structured the [Netflix deal] so that if I wanted to do something else next, I could. And I think everybody assumed I’d have a couple other random ideas — unrelated projects — that I’ve been kicking around. But, honestly, over the past couple of months, the most exciting creative thing to me right now is that third movie. And so, I think I’m going to hop right into it. Not because of a contractual obligation, but, genuinely, that’s the shiny object I find my nose pointed toward right now. [It’s] the idea of figuring out how it can be completely different from this one as well as the first one.”

Knives Out 3 could dive into Benoit Blanc's sexuality.

In press for Glass Onion, Johnson teased that the third film would dive into Blanc's queerness, saying he's "sure it'll come into play" because it's a big part of his character.

"If you watch the movie, I think it’s made explicit. In terms of exploring it, I mean, maybe, but with these movies, I mean, they’re not really about the detective’s sexuality. [But] it’s baked into the genre a little bit [when] the detective is kind of set outside the realm of the human drama that’s going on with the rest of the suspects, so I’m sure it’ll come into play because it’s a big part of who he is, obviously. It’s just a fact about his character."

There will be an entirely new cast.

Just as the cast and mystery (with the exception of Daniel Craig's Blanc) completely changed in Glass Onion, the third Knives Out will feature an entirely new cast and no continuous mystery.

"If each one of these can really be what Agatha Christie did, if it can be not just in a totally new location and a new cast, but also trying something exciting, I'll keep doing it as long as Daniel and I are having a good time. I'll keep making these as long as they let me," Johnson told Variety.

Here's who's joining the third film so far (no roles have been announced yet):

• Josh O'Connor

• Cailee Spaeny

• Andrew Scott

• Kerry Washington

• Glenn Close

• Jeremy Renner

• Mila Kunis

• Thomas Haden Church

• Josh Brolin

• Daryl McCormack

The title is from a U2 song.

Just as the first two films took their titles from songs, Wake Up Dead Man is the name of a 1997 U2 song from their album, Pop.

Wake Up Dead Man will premiere in 2025.

Netflix acquired the rights to Knives Out 2 and Knives Out 3 in a $450 million deal in March 2021. In January 2023, Ori Marmur, who co-runs Netflix's original studio film group, told Variety "Rian Johnson is already working on the third one, but there’s no set time table. We’d love to have it sooner rather than later given the response to the last one."

According to Johnson, filming began in June 2024. "See you on the other side," he posted on X:

We'll update this post as soon as we learn more.

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