'Wake Up Dead Man' Cast, Release Date, and More Details on the 'Knives Out' Franchise's Third Film

The third chapter in the Knives Out detective film franchise Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is coming to Netflix next month, and fans are now hyped to see it after the platform released the trailer on Monday morning.

The film will see Daniel Craig return as Benoit Blanc, as he tries to solve yet another 'impossible' murder mystery. Much like the previous two installments, director Rian Johnson helmed another loaded ensemble of Hollywood's finest for his third.

The Plot

The streamer's synopsis for the film reads: 'Detective Benoit Blanc teams up with an earnest young priest to investigate a perfectly impossible crime at a small-town church with a dark history.'

Wake Up Dead Man sees Blanc going to a small hamlet in upstate New York to investigate the sudden death of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, whose assistant Jud Duplenticy, is accused of murdering him. The detective teams up with local police chief Geraldine Scott to solve the mystery behind the monsignor's passing.

The Cast

Led by former James Bond Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, the film also stars Josh Brolin (Avengers, Deadpool 2) as charismatic priest Jefferson Wicks, with Challengers star Josh O'Connor playing the young priest sent to assist Wicks, Jud Duplenticy.

Mila Kunis (Black Swan) is police chief Geraldine Scott, who will help Blanc get to the bottom of Wicks' death.

Forming Wicks' devoted followers are eight-time Academy award nominee Glen Close as Martha Delacroix, Jeremy Renner (Avengers) as Nat Sharp, Emmy Award winner Kerry Washington as Vera Draven, Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) as Simone Vivane, Andrew Scott (Fleabag) as Lee Ross, Daryl McCormack (The Lesson), and Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3) as Samson Holt.

O'Connor told Tudum that it was Johnson's script that enticed him to be part of the film.

'What made me want to do the movie was the balance between comedy and Rian's writing, which is always uncovering something that we don't often see in a comedy,' he shared.

'The Hardest Script I Ever Had to Write' - Johnson

Academy award nominee Rian Johnson noted that Wake Up Dead Man's screenplay was the most challenging script he ever had to work on.

'This film charts (Blanc's) most personal journey yet,' he told Tudum. 'He's forced to engage with the case — and with himself — in a way that's completely new.'

Johnson also revealed that the third film in his whodunit trilogy is more similar to the first one because it harkens back to the origins of the genre.

'It's more similar to the first Knives Out in that it gets back to the real origins of the genre, which predate Agatha Christie, going back to Edgar Allan Poe,' he said. 'It's still a Benoit Blanc mystery, so it's funny and fun, but it's set in an old stone church, there are lots of graveyards.'