Babe, wake up: a new still for the third installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out franchise has dropped, and Josh O’Connor is reviving the Hot Priest. Forget Fleabag, Conclave, Nobody Wants This, or Ramy, there’s a new ecclesiastic bombshell on the block.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery was first announced last May by Johnson, followed by much speculation about the casting. You see, the anthology murder mystery has become stan-Twitter canon—similar to its HBO television contemporary The White Lotus, or any Luca Guadagnino film—where every edition must contain the internet’s flavor of the month. Zendaya. Steven Yeun. Sarah Paulson. Mahershala Ali. Rachel Weisz. Well, no, not quite. But, Josh O’Connor and Andrew Scott? Yes!
Does this crown Josh O’Connor as the Brit actor final boss? Post-Challengers churro hysteria, the 34-year-old has certainly cemented his status as one of the most in-demand stars of his generation. As he prepares to star alongside Daniel Craig’s beloved Southern detective Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, here’s everything you need to know.
What will the plot of Knives Out 3 be?
Murder, I guess? The original Knives Out shadowed Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a successful crime novelist, who—spoiler!—was murdered by his grandson Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans). Meanwhile, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery followed tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) as he was revealed—spoiler number two—as the murderer of two of his friends. This third edition has been pegged as Blanc’s “most dangerous mystery yet.” Color me intrigued.
Who’s in the cast of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery?
With the exception of Craig, expect an entirely new cast, with Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, and Cailee Spaeny alongside O’Connor. Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church are also confirmed.
What does Wake Up Dead Man mean, exactly?
It appears that Johnson exclusively titles his films after songs. Knives Out is named after the 2001 Radiohead track, Glass Onion refers to a song on the Beatles’ White Album, and Wake Up Dead Man comes from the 1997 U2 hit.
When’s it coming out?
Fall 2025! On Netflix, naturally. In an interview with Variety while promoting Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, Craig revealed he’d love for Wake Up Dead Man to run longer in theaters. “Hopefully, Netflix will push it out a bit, and people will get to see it. The people I speak to—the fans, I suppose—all they want to do is take their families and go see it at the cinemas. That’s all they want to do. Hopefully we can give them that experience.”
