NEED TO KNOW
Knives Out fans have their first glimpse of their favorite fictional detective!
Daniel Craig will return as Benoit Blanc in 2025’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, reuniting with franchise writer and director Rian Johnson for another twisted whodunit. As a new teaser trailer from Netflix reveals, the private detective is facing his most dangerous case yet. The thrilling first footage made its debut during the Netflix Tudum 2025 live event on Saturday, May 31.
Craig, 56, is joined by new cast members Glenn Close, Cailee Spaeny, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Josh O’Connor and Andrew Scott in the franchise’s third installment.
In June, Johnson, 50, shared a first look of Craig in character, wearing a three-piece suit and longer hair than fans of the Southern detective are used to seeing. “See you on the other side,” the Oscar-nominated filmmaker captioned the shot. In August, he marked the film’s wrap, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that it “went so fast!”
Netflic
Wake Up Dead Man’s title comes from a 1997 U2 song from the band’s album Pop, Johnson told Netflix’s Tudum. The film was first announced in March 2021, when Netflix bought the rights to the Knives Out franchise in a reported $400 million deal that included second and third installments. While the streamer hasn’t yet greenlit a fourth, Johnson has said he is on board to make more Benoit Blanc films if the script is right.
Close told PEOPLE in August 2024 that filming the mystery-thriller in London was “one of the best experiences” of her life. The “brilliant” Johnson “assembled a wonderful team around him and put together this cast from heaven,” she said, “Led by Daniel Craig, who is wonderful.”
During the Tudum event, Netflix revealed that Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will be released on Dec. 12.
