🔍Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) – Cast, Plot, Release Date & Where to Watch | Benoit Blanc Faces His Darkest Case Yet 🕵️‍♂️🕯️

The game is afoot once more—but this time, the stakes are higher, the shadows deeper, and the secrets far more dangerous. Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery brings Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) back to the screen in what promises to be his darkest and most perilous investigation yet.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 6, 2025, the film will hit theaters on November 26 before streaming globally on Netflix on December 12, 2025.

🌀 A New Kind of Mystery

Unlike the quirky decadence of Knives Out (2019) or the sun-soaked satire of Glass Onion (2022), Wake Up Dead Man shifts gears into a gothic and brooding thriller, set in a small American town where faith, power, and buried sins collide.

Benoit Blanc, ever the Southern gentleman sleuth, now finds himself entangled in a case where religion, politics, and death weave into a tangled web of lies. As he warns in the trailer:“This case, Lord help me, will not end well for everyone.”

🕵️ The Knives Out Legacy

The Knives Out saga began in 2019, when Rian Johnson reimagined the classic whodunit with wit, style, and razor-sharp social commentary. The original film introduced Benoit Blanc as a quirky yet brilliant detective and turned a traditional murder mystery into a cultural phenomenon.

Three years later, Glass Onion (2022) took the series global, trading a creaky mansion for a tech billionaire’s Greek island. With bigger spectacle and sharper satire, it proved the franchise could evolve without losing its clever core.

Now, Wake Up Dead Man represents the third stage of evolution—a darker, gothic, and emotionally charged chapter that

dares to ask whether even Benoit Blanc can solve a mystery when the truth itself is poisoned.

As Blanc once said in Knives Ou t:“The truth is like a knife—it cuts through the fog of lies, but it always leaves a wound.”

🎭 The Ensemble Cast – A Deadly Congregation

Rian Johnson once again assembles a dazzling ensemble, this time mixing Oscar winners, Marvel veterans, and fresh new talent:

• Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, detective extraordinaire

• Josh O’Connor as Rev. Jud Duplenticy, a mysterious young priest

• Glenn Close as Martha Delacroix, the church’s iron-willed matriarch

• Josh Brolin as Msgr. Jefferson Wicks, a firebrand priest with dangerous charisma

• Mila Kunis as Geraldine Scott, the wary local police chief

• Jeremy Renner as Dr. Nat Sharp, the town doctor with secrets of his own

• Kerry Washington as Vera Draven, a tightly wound lawyer hiding her motives

• Andrew Scott as Lee Ross, a best-selling author who knows more than he reveals

• Cailee Spaeny as Simone Vivane, a once-great cellist now haunted by loss

• Daryl McCormack as Cy Draven, an ambitious politician on the rise

• Thomas Haden Church as Samson Holt, the cryptic groundskeeper who sees everything

Each character is a potential suspect—and every alibi, a potential lie.

🎬 Rian Johnson’s Darkest Turn

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film embraces a noir-inspired atmosphere, with cinematography by Steve Yedlin painting the story in shadows and candlelight. Nathan Johnson’s haunting score adds to the dread, turning every quiet chapel and crumbling mansion into a stage for betrayal.

Unlike the previous two installments, Wake Up Dead Man leans into psychological horror and gothic mystery, signaling an evolution of the franchise. It’s not just about who did it—but about what dark truths people are willing to bury in the name of salvation.

📅 Release and Streaming

• World Premiere: TIFF – September 6, 2025

• Theatrical Release (Select Theaters, IMAX): November 26, 2025

• Streaming on Netflix (Worldwide): December 12, 2025

🔎 Final Thoughts – The Case of a Lifetime

With its ominous title, chilling cast of suspects, and Daniel Craig returning to his most beloved role outside of James Bond, Wake Up Dead Man may prove to be the boldest and most unforgettable Knives Out mystery yet.

As Blanc himself puts it, “Some puzzles are not meant to be solved without blood being spilled.”

When the lights go out this November, the question won’t just be who killed who—but whether even Benoit Blanc can survive the truth.