Rian Johnson‘s “Wake Up Dead Man,” the third film in the Daniel Craig-starring “Knives Out” murder mystery series, just arrived on Netflix on Dec. 12. However, the director already has thoughts about the next installment in the franchise. Johnson told Entertainment Weekly, “I have some basic, elemental, conceptual ideas. Like, ‘Okay, it’d be interesting if it were this kind of thing’ kernels.”
The director continued, “I don’t have actual concrete ideas. I don’t have a theme yet. I don’t have a location. It’s really pretty vague, and I feel like it’s good to kinda keep it vague until I’m ready to actually sit down and write it.”
In the meantime, Johnson hopes to direct at least one original film before returning to “Knives Out” for another story of Craig’s stately southern detective Benoit Blanc. He says that the “Knives Out” movies are all meant to be products of their time, and therefore, the intricate plots and their surrounding themes cannot be rushed.
“Part of making these movies, for me, is reacting to the present moment, not necessarily with current events or politics or culture specifically, but in terms of what we’re all feeling in the world at that moment,” Johnson said. “I like that these movies are not timeless, per se, and that they all have one foot in something that is common to all of us in our present moment. So, yeah, I don’t know. I have a vague notion, but trying to keep it vague until it’s time to actually do it.”
Johnson began the “Knives Out” series in 2019, with Lionsgate’s release of the first film in theaters. Netflix subsequently acquired the rights for two sequels to the original and released the second installment, “Glass Onion” in 2022. “Wake Up Dead Man” had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and was released in select theaters on Nov. 26.
