Writer-director Rian Johnson suggests he has at least one more sequel to Wake Up Dead Man in mind, saying he has “kernels” of ideas for Knives Out 4. The much-anticipated Wake Up Dead Man, the latest in writer-director Rian Johnson’s murder mystery film series, emerged on Netflix on the 12th December. And while it gives ... Knives Out 4 | Rian Johnson says he has “conceptual ideas” for sequel
Writer-director Rian Johnson suggests he has at least one more sequel to Wake Up Dead Man in mind, saying he has “kernels” of ideas for Knives Out 4.
The much-anticipated Wake Up Dead Man, the latest in writer-director Rian Johnson’s murder mystery film series, emerged on Netflix on the 12th December. And while it gives Daniel Craig’s flamboyant detective Benoit Blanc another knotty murder to unravel, Johnson has suggested that a fourth Knives Out film could eventually happen.
Not that the filmmaker is in a rush. Talking to Entertainment Weekly he said, “I have some basic, elemental, conceptual ideas. Like, ‘Okay, it’d be interesting if it were this kind of thing’ kernels.”
Given the widespread affection for the Knives Out movies, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Netflix might be pestering sequels out at the pace of one per year. Instead, Johnson’s been given the space to take his time over them; the original Knives Out emerged in 2019, Glass Onion in 2022, and Wake Up Dead Man three years after that.
“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.”
Read more: Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man review | A miracle of a murder
Wake Up Dead Man deals with the murder of a Bible-thumping clergyman in upstate New York, played by Josh Brolin. The immediate suspect is Josh O’Connor’s young priest with a chequered past, but then again, a number of eccentric church-goers have a potential motive. The latest Knives Out is a heady mix of mystery, black comedy and a hint of Gothic horror – and seemingly a temperature reading of modern Christianity and how easily it can turn toxic.
At his current working pace, Knives Out 4 probably won’t be with us until 2028 at the earliest. Certainly, as Netflix subscribers puzzle over Wake Up Dead Man’s seemingly unsolvable crimes, Johnson hasn’t come close to getting a script together.
“I don’t have actual concrete ideas,” he said. “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.”
Wake Up Dead Man is streaming on Netflix now.
