Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – key information
– Releasing on Netflix in December 2025
– Unclear if it’ll be released theatrically, too
– First footage unveiled at Netflix Tudum 2025
– Daniel Craig returning as Benoit Blanc
– Ensemble cast of A-listers set to join Craig
– Plot synopsis revealed
– No word on whether Netflix will make a fourth Knives Out movie
The countdown is on to Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery‘s release. The forthcoming mystery-thriller is due out on Netflix on December 12, 2025, so it’s high time that you learned everything we know about it so far.
Below, I’ve rounded up the biggest and latest information on the third film in writer/director Rian Johnson’s popular whodunit movie series. Indeed, you’ll find out more about its cast, story, and the franchise’s future from this point on.
Bear in mind that potential spoilers follow for Knives Out 3, so proceed at your own risk.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery release date
Announced at Netflix Tudum 2025, Knives Out 3 will make its global debut on the world’s best streaming service on December 12, 2025.
Good though it was to get confirmation about the movie’s launch date, Netflix detectives solved the mystery of Wake Up, Dead Man‘s release date in the days leading up to this official announcement via a couple of teasers that appeared on Knives Out‘s various social media channels.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery trailer: is there one?
Sort of. Netflix hasn’t released an official trailer Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery yet, but a minute’s worth of official footage was released as part of a date announcement teaser during Netflix Tudum 2025, which you can watch above.
There’s not too much we can glean about its plot really, but the teaser confirms who’ll be joining Daniel Craig on Knives Out 3‘s stacked cast roster. Speaking of which…
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery cast
Here’s the confirmed cast for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery so far:
- Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc
- Josh O’Connor as Reverend Jud Duplenticy
- Glenn Close as Martha Delacroix
- Josh Brolin as Monsignor Jefferson Wicks
- Mila Kunis as Geraldine Scott
- Jeremy Renner as Doctor Nat Sharp
- Kerry Washington as Vera Draven
- Andrew Scott as Lee Ross
- Cailee Spaeny as Simone Vivane
- Daryl McCormack as Cy Draven
- Thomas Haden Church as Samson Holt
Unsurprisingly, Craig is back as the louche Blanc. Following his exploits as infamous British spy James Bond, Craig appears to be getting a kick out of being the Knives Out film series’ recurring protagonists. He’s had a little makeover for this new outing, too with everyone’s favorite bumbling detective sporting longer hair and a little stubble, albeit with a typically dandy suit and hat.
Just like the previous two Knives Out films, Blanc is joined by an eclectic group of characters portrayed by numerous talented actors.
The first of those cast additions came last May, with Spaeny and O’Connor confirmed to have signed up. Less than 24 hours later, Knives Out 3 was confirmed to be a mini Bond reunion after Scott was revealed as part of the cast. He starred opposite Craig in Spectre (find out where it sits in our how to watch best Daniel Craig Bond movies ranked article while you’re here).
Renner, Kunis, Close, and Washington were added to Wake Up Dead Man‘s roster a day after Scott was said to have signed on. The final three additions – Josh Brolin, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church – were revealed by the trades before May 2024 ended.
As for the roles they’ll occupy, so far we know that O’Connor and Brolin will play members of the clergy, while Kunis’ Scott is a police constable and Renner is a medical professional. The identities of their characters aside, though, everyone else’s roles remain a *ahem* mystery.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery story synopsis and speculation
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery‘s story brief hasn’t been unveiled yet. Indeed, the only thing we really know is that, per Netflix, it’ll be “Benoit Blanc’s most dangerous case yet”.
That logline is all we’ve had to gone for a year, too. Sure, Knives Out 3‘s official title might have revealed in May 2024, but we’ve all been playing amateur detectives since then to try to work out what its story may entail. Okay, it’ll involve Blanc investigating another mysterious murder, but all other story details are locked up in a sarcophagus somewhere.
We don’t expect the franchise’s third installment to be wholly different to what’s comes before, either. What ties the previous movies together – aside from the, you know, murders – are themes of class war, inequality, fame and skewering of the one percenters. So, it’s likely these issues will also continue to have a light shone on them in Johnson’s own, unique way.
That said, we might be in for something completely different this time around – Johnson telling Variety in January 2023: “[That’s] what’s got me creatively jazzed. I don’t have to replicate the last movie at all. The goal is to strike out in a completely new direction tonally and thematically.”
There are some fascinating fan theories circulating online that Johnson planted a little Easter egg in Glass Onion, aka the second Knives Out flick and one of the best Netflix movies, that teases what this story could be about, too.
Early on when all the characters meet at the dock of Miles Bron’s Greek island, the assembled guests are surprised to see Blanc. Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn) soon asks: “Did you solve the murder of – oh, whatshername – the ballet dancer thing, that’s you?”, which some viewers suspect is a hint at the forthcoming movie’s plot.
Given Knives Out 3‘s actual title, it’s highly unlikely that this Glass Onion reference has anything to do with Wake Up Dead Man. Still, it’s something worth pondering.
Will there be a fourth Knives Out movie?
There’s no official word on whether a fourth film will be made. If one is, it’s unclear it’ll launch on Netflix, too, with the streaming giant only signing a deal with Johnson to make two more Knives Out movies at a cot of $400 million in March 2021 (per Deadline).
However, Johnson and Craig have said they want to continue making more as long as they can. Speaking with Variety in 2022, Craig said: “If he [Johnson] keeps writing them, I’ll keep doing them. That’s what makes it easy – he’s such a wonderful writer that it’s there on the page for me to do.”
However, the duo are conscious of the ‘quality versus quantity’ debate. Speaking with Deadline in November 2022 about a possible fourth movie in the Knives Out franchise, Craig said: “If there ever came a point where either Rian and I thought we were just churning them out, I think we would back away. I mean, I just don’t think that’s what either of us want to do in life. Unless people are getting genuine fun out of them, forget it.”
Meanwhile, in January 2023, Johnson spoke to Netflix Tudum about the possibilities of, as requested by fans, a Knives Out/The Muppets crossover.
“I think those two things have very different rules,” he disappointingly replied. “You can either have a Benoit Blanc mystery that has Muppets in it, but they’ll feel out of place. Or, you can have a Muppet movie that Benoit Blanc is in, but it’ll feel like a Muppet movie. I wouldn’t want to compromise either of them and I feel like, in order to make it well and make it work, you’d have to make a choice and compromise one or the other. If I ever make a Muppet movie, I just want to make a great Muppet movie.”
For more Netflix coverage, read our guides on Stranger Things season 5, Bridgerton season 4, One Piece season 2, and Wednesday season 2.
Benoit Blanc returns in his most dangerous case yet. pic.twitter.com/Y3IFryNNi4May 24, 2024
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews