Summary

• Benoit Blanc returns in 2025 for a thrilling new mystery in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
• Rian Johnson teases the most dangerous case yet for Blanc in the sequel with a Daniel Craig-narrated video of Blanc reflecting on his prior cases.
• The threequel's title continues the franchise's unique trend of taking its name from iconic music tracks, though its deeper thematic connection to the story remains unclear.

Benoit Blanc is set to face his most dangerous case yet with the reveal of A third Knives Out movie was confirmed before the sequel was even released, when Netflix acquired the rights to the franchise for both a second and third installment, with a report in January 2024 confirming filming would begin the same year.

Just over a year after the previous movie premiered on Netflix, Rian Johnson took to his Twitter to share an exciting Knives Out 3 update.

The video, as seen above, features Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc narrating his reflection of the past two cases in the franchise, while also teasing that his next case will be the most dangerous he's faced yet. The clip then reveals that the title for the threequel will be Wake Up Dead Man, and is confirmed for a 2025 release window.

Knives Out 3's Title Continues A Unique Franchise Trend

Is Johnson Setting Up The End For Benoit Blanc?

While Johnson has been plenty creative with his titling of the movies thus far, Knives Out 3's official title of Wake Up Dead Man marks an interesting franchise continuation of naming each installment after an iconic music track. The 2019 franchise starter took its title from the Radiohead song of the same name, which Johnson explained came more from enjoying it as a title for a murder mystery more than sharing any thematic connection to the story. With Glass Onion, he similarly found himself looking through music for something to pair with the thematic nature of glass hiding something in plain sight, landing on the 1968 Beatles track.

Heading into Wake Up Dead Man, Johnson has pulled from the 1997 U2 track for the Knives Out 3 title, which does beg an interesting question of just how it will connect thematically to the threequel's story. The track is memorably one of the band's darkest to date, seeing Bono pleading with Jesus to return and save mankind, all while feeling "alone in this world." While previous Knives Out movies have certainly featured darker moments for Blanc, should the song indeed be linked to the story's themes, it could very well spell a dramatic new chapter for Craig's eccentric private detective.

Given Johnson has also found his docket increasingly full with Poker Face season 2 and a major new deal at Warner Bros. to develop two new films, this darker theme also begs the question of whether Knives Out 3 will be the end. If looking at Glass Onion, in particular, it does seem generally unlikely that Blanc would put himself in direct mortal danger, having even humorously noted he's "not Batman" and can only collect facts to deliver to the courts and authorities. That said, with Wake Up Dead Man hyped as his most dangerous case yet, it seems anything is fair game should it indeed be the last Knives Out movie.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Rian Johnson/Twitter