''Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'' is an upcoming American

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

written and directed by

Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film ''Brick (film), Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget ...

. It is a

standalone sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to '' Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'' (2022) and the third installment overall in the ''Knives Out'' film series. It stars

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English actor. His accolades include two National Board of Review Awards, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. ...

, who reprises his role as master detective Benoit Blanc. The

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

also includes

Josh O'Connor Joshua O'Connor (born 20 May 1990) is a British actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three BAFTA Awards. After training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, O'Connor had supportin ...

Glenn Close Glenda Veronica Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. In a career spanning over five decades on Glenn Close on screen and stage, screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Glenn Close, numerous ac ...

Josh Brolin Josh James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film ''The Goonies'' (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starr ...

Mila Kunis Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis (born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and raised in Los Angeles, she was Jackie Burkhart on ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006) and has voiced Meg Griffin on ''Family Guy'' since ...

Jeremy Renner Jeremy Lee Renner (born January 7, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career by appearing in independent films such as ''Dahmer (film), Dahmer'' (2002) and ''Neo Ned'' (2005), then supporting roles in bigger films, such as ''S.W.A.T. (20 ...

Kerry Washington Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) SidebarCertificate of Live Birth: Isabelle Amarachi Asomugha(County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health). Gives Kerry Washington birth dateArchivedfrom the original on May 2, 2016.Note: Fil ...

, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and

Thomas Haden Church Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas Richard McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After starring in the 1990s sitcom '' Wings'' and playing the lead for two seasons in ''Ned & Stacey'' (1995–1997)'','' Church became known for his film work ...

. ''Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'' is scheduled to be released by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on December 12, 2025.

Cast

as Benoit Blanc, a private detective/investigator *

as Rev. Jud Duplenticy, a priest *

as Martha Delacroix *

as Msgr. Jefferson Wicks, a priest *

as Geraldine Scott, a police chief *

as Dr. Nat Sharp *

as Vera Draven * Andrew Scott as Lee Ross * Cailee Spaeny as Simone Vivane * Daryl McCormack as Cy Draven *

as Samson Holt

Production

Development

Before the release of ''

Knives Out ''Knives Out'' is a 2019 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson. Daniel Craig leads an eleven-actor ensemble cast as Benoit Blanc, a famed private detective who is summoned to investigate the death of the bestselling autho ...

'' (2019),

said he would like to create sequels with Benoit Blanc investigating further mysteries, and already had an idea for a new film. On March 31, 2021, it was reported that

bought the rights to two ''Knives Out'' sequels for over $400million.

Writing

In June 2022, Johnson revealed that ''Knives Out 3'' was a

working title A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...

with his intent being that each film has a distinct title, citing the works of

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

as his inspiration for the films and the individual titles. In November 2022, Johnson said that he was preparing to work on writing the third film. By January 2023, Johnson confirmed that he had started writing the script for the third film, stating that it will be tonally and thematically different from the previous installments. Johnson later stated that though he had approved the subtitle of ''A Knives Out Mystery'' for the previous installment, he would like to rename the series and add ''A Benoit Blanc Mystery'' as subtitles to future installments. In October 2023, following the resolution of the

2023 Writers Guild of America strike From May 2 to September 27, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters—went on Strike action, strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Lasting 148 days, ...

, Johnson announced that he had started working on the script for the third movie. The filmmaker stated that he had the premise planned, and could begin writing again.

Casting

was expected to reprise his role early in development; he acknowledged interest in returning early on during the project's development. Craig was paid $100 million for his involvement in the two ''Knives Out'' sequels. In May 2024,

, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott,

, and Daryl McCormack, joined the main cast; Renner's likeness had previously been used in ''Glass Onion'', although he had not been featured otherwise. The following month,

and

joined the cast.

Filming

As with the previous two films,

Steve Yedlin Steven Mark Yedlin, (born September 29, 1975) is an American cinematographer who studied at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is best known for his collaboration with director Rian Johnson in his films. Yedlin is a member of the American Soci ...

and Nathan Johnson returned as cinematographer and composer, respectively.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place at

Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden is an Film studio, studio complex in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, Leavesden in Watford, Hertfordshire, in the East of England. Formerly known as Leavesden Film Studios and still colloquially known as Leavesden Studio ...

and it began on June 10, 2024, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. On June 19, 2024, Close revealed that she was "really hit hard" with both

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and

respiratory syncytial virus Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also called human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) and human orthopneumovirus, is a virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract. It is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its name is derive ...

(RSV), which was also revealed to have resulted in her being able to only participate in two days of filming by that point in time. Filming wrapped on August 17.

Release

''Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'' is scheduled to be released by

on December 12, 2025. The film will have its international premiere at the 2025

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

on 8 October 2025.

Future

In September 2022, Johnson confirmed his intention to make more films in the series. Later that month, Craig and Johnson separately said that they would continue making further films, as long as they were both involved.

References

External links

* {{Rian Johnson 2025 crime comedy films 2025 crime thriller films 2020s American films 2020s comedy mystery films 2020s comedy thriller films 2020s English-language films 2020s mystery thriller films American black comedy films American comedy mystery films American comedy thriller films American crime comedy films American crime thriller films American detective films American mystery thriller films American nonlinear narrative films American sequel films English-language comedy mystery films English-language comedy thriller films English-language crime comedy films English-language mystery thriller films Films directed by Rian Johnson Films produced by Ram Bergman Films produced by Rian Johnson Films scored by Nathan Johnson (musician) Films shot in London Films with screenplays by Rian Johnson Knives Out (film series) American murder mystery films Upcoming English-language films Upcoming Netflix original films Upcoming sequel films Upcoming films