Everything to know about Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Knives Out 3)

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, one of the best Netflix movies of all time, premiered on the streamer in December 2022. Now, nearly two years later, we finally have updates about the third movie in the Knives Out trilogy. Knives Out 3 is titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and has a stellar cast attached.

We shared everything we know so far about Knives Out 3!

Knives Out 3 will be released in 2025

When the title of the film was announced in May 2024, writer/director Rian Johnson also confirmed that Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery would be released sometime in 2025. He has not specified which month of the year, but we know we won't get to watch it in 2024.

Though it might be frustrating that we'll have to wait until next year to see the third movie in the series, it's not necessarily surprising. Glass Onion was released in late 2022, and it usually takes at least two or three years between sequels of Netflix movies. We’ve only seen a handful of Netflix sequels so far, and most of them take about three years. Extraction premiered in 2020, while the second movie premiered in 2023, for example, so we were already expecting something similar for Knives Out 3.

The star-studded cast

As expected, Daniel Craig will return in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery as Benoit Blanc. Would it be a Knives Out movie without him?! In addition to Craig, Netflix has announced an exciting lineup of actors as new cast members for the third movie:

• Josh O'Connor
• Cailee Spaeny
• Andrew Scott
• Kerry Washington
• Jeremy Renner
• Mila Kunis
• Glenn Close
• Josh Brolin
• Daryl McCormack
• Thomas Haden Church

The cast is a fantastic mix of up-and-comers and seasoned stars, making the movie all the more anticipated. Josh O'Connor and Cailee Spaeny are having a moment right now; O'Connor co-starred in Luca Guadagnino's Challengers alongside Zendaya and Mike Faist earlier this year, while Spaeny recently appeared in Alex Garland's Civil War and will star in the upcoming film Alien: Romulus from Fede Álvarez. Spaeny also portrayed Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola's 2023 film Priscilla. O'Connor is an Emmy Award winner for his role as Prince Charles in The Crown.

Just like the previous two Knives Out movies, Wake Up Dead Man will be full of A-listers.

In the first two Knives Out movies, there’s only been one common cast member, and that’s Craig. We expect that will be the case in the third movie unless Johnson decides to cast others who have been in the first two movies, and speaking of that...

There are two characters who fans really want to see return in Knives Out 3: Janelle Monáe and Madelyn Cline. Monáe starred as Andi and Helen Brand in Glass Onion, and Cline starred as Whiskey in the movie. Unfortunately, neither has been confirmed for Knives Out 3.

Monáe told ET Canada that she would do Knives Out 3, but she didn’t expect Johnson would ask her to return: "I would be honoured. But Rian is not going to cast you if you’ve already done Knives Out with the exception of Daniel Craig, because he has to be the detective Benoit Blanc that comes in.”

Jessica Henwick and Cline also told the outlet that they would like to be in Knives Out 3, too. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be in the movie? I’m sure fans would also want to see some of the cast from the first Knives Out, including Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more, in Knives Out 3. Again, it seems like we’ll be getting a completely new cast apart from Craig, but we’ll never say never.

The movie is currently filming

In an exciting update, Johnson took to Twitter on June 10 to share a photo of Craig in character, announcing the start of filming:

Filming for Glass Onion began in June 2021 and they wrapped a few months later in September 2021. If the cast and crew follow a similar production schedule for Wake Up Dead Man, they could be done filming in September of this year. With Glass Onion, it wasn't until a year after they finished shooting that the first teaser trailer was released, with the movie coming out on Netflix in time for Christmas of 2022. Given all of this information, I would predict that Knives Out 3 will likely come out in either the fall or winter of 2025. It really depends on how long Netflix wants to hold it.

The first Knives Out movie was released in theaters in November 2019; perhaps Wake Up Dead Man will be out in November or December 2025. Remember, this is just our prediction and we have no confirmation from Netflix regarding the release month.

There could be more Knives Out movies after this

At the time of publishing, Netflix has not ordered a fourth Knives Out movie, not publicly anyway. But Johnson and Craig told Deadline in 2022 that they are interested in making more of the Knives Out movies and whodunnits involving Benoit Blanc.

Here’s what Johnson said:

"Daniel and I have talked a lot about that, how the instant we feel like we’re turning the crank on another one of these, we have to stop. So, it’s very important with each one now, and the third one especially, that it feels kind of scary and dangerous. You have to shake the box."

Rian Johnson

And here’s what Craig said:

"Down the line, yes, of course. I mean, if people are interested, then we’ll make them. But 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."

Daniel Craig

We might be waiting a long time until we can watch Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, but fingers crossed it'll be worth the wait! We'll continue to update our readers with more information about the third Knives Out movie as it comes out.