Home / Arts and Entertainment / Rian Johnson Promises Darker, More Traditional "Knives Out 3" Mystery
Rian Johnson Promises Darker, More Traditional "Knives Out 3" Mystery
11 Oct
Summary
- "Knives Out 3" to have more classic murder mystery structure
- Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc investigates religious intrigue and gothic elements
- Josh O'Connor joins as a priest who becomes Blanc's sidekick
According to an announcement made on October 11, 2025, Rian Johnson, the writer and producer of the Knives Out franchise, has revealed that the third installment in the Netflix series, "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery," is closer to an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery than the previous films.
Speaking at Deadline's Contenders London event, Johnson explained that the new movie has a more traditional structure, where the audience is introduced to all the suspects and the protagonist, who is not the detective, before the murder occurs and Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, arrives to solve the case.
The third Knives Out film will see a darker mystery centered around religious intrigue, with gothic elements inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Josh O'Connor joins the cast as Jud Duplencity, a priest sent to a remote outpost in Upstate New York, who becomes a kind of sidekick to Blanc in solving the case.
