The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, and was released in select theaters on November 26, before streaming on Netflix on December 12. Like its predecessors, it received generally positive reviews, with most praise for the performances, in particular those of Craig and O'Connor.
Plot
Jud Duplenticy, a former boxer turned Catholic priest, punches a rude deacon and is reassigned as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a small-town parish in upstate New York led by Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, the grandson of Reverend Prentice Wicks. Jefferson's troubled mother, Grace, had remained at the church in hope of receiving Prentice's sizable inheritance; but when the fortune disappeared after his death, she ransacked the church and destroyed its crucifix, which Jefferson refuses to replace. Wicks' incendiary preaching has driven away all but his most loyal and corrupt parishioners, and Jud soon clashes with Wicks. During a Good Friday service, Wicks collapses in a closet adjoining the chancel; a knife is found in his back, fashioned from a devil's-head lamp finial and he is pronounced dead. The crime seems impossible, but when the community learns that Jud had drunkenly stolen the finial from a bar and thrown it through a window, suspicion falls on Jud.
Police chief Geraldine Scott summons private detective Benoit Blanc to investigate. He recruits Jud to assist him, convinced of his innocence. After Wicks' entombment in Prentice's mausoleum, Jud and Blanc question the congregation. They learn that, in a meeting just before his death, Wicks claimed to have found Prentice's fortune, stating that he would use it to pursue a career in politics with Cy Draven, his illegitimate son, and publicly shame his other followers. Tired of Blanc's dogged pursuit of justice, Jud quits the investigation.
While returning to his rectory at night, Jud seemingly witnesses Wicks exit the mausoleum and embrace groundskeeper Samson. He is knocked out while pursuing them and wakes up next to Samson's corpse, believing he has killed him. Blanc stops Jud from turning himself in and takes him to parish member Doctor Nat's house, where they find Nat's corpse dissolving in a tub of acid alongside Wicks' body. The following morning, the police and parishioners convene in the church for Jud's confession, only for Blanc to explain how Nat killed Wicks: he attached a second red devil's-head finial to Wicks' matching red vestment and spiked Wicks' flask with sedatives. When Wicks drank the liquor and passed out, Nat feigned examining the body and switched the finial for one with a knife, stabbing Wicks. At this point Blanc has an epiphany and abruptly declares he cannot explain Wicks' resurrection. The congregation leaves.
Blanc explains that he was inspired by Jud's example to allow the killer to come forward on their own. Martha, the church's longtime secretary, returns to confess: she knew Prentice had converted his fortune into a diamond he called "Eve's Apple". When he took his own life by swallowing it, Grace ransacked the church in search of it. Martha had witnessed Prentice's final deed but kept silent until her last confession with Wicks. She realized Wicks planned to recover Eve's Apple from Prentice's corpse. This terrified her, so she conspired to murder Wicks before he could act, with Nat's help.
After Wicks' death, she had Samson entombed in Wicks' place to retrieve and destroy Eve's Apple. After finding it, Samson left the tomb dressed as Wicks, staging a resurrection to preserve Wicks' legacy and the church's reputation. Nat dressed as Samson and waited outside the tomb; but when Jud arrived, Nat killed Samson to keep Eve's Apple for himself. Nat then poisoned Martha's coffee, only for Martha to secretly swap their cups around, killing him. Finally, she reveals that she has taken the poison herself, and collapses. With her last breath, she prays for forgiveness from all victims, including Grace. Jud absolves her, before she dies and drops Eve's Apple.
One year later, Jud has carved a new crucifix and is about to reopen the church, now renamed Our Lady of Perpetual Grace. Most of the parishioners have moved on with their lives, though a disgruntled Cy, convinced Jud is hiding Eve's Apple, says he will closely monitor Jud’s finances for any traces of it. As new parishioners enter for Jud's first Mass, Eve's Apple is seen concealed within the chest of the new crucifix.
Before the release of Knives Out (2019), Rian Johnson said he would like to create sequels with Benoit Blanc investigating further mysteries, and already had an idea for a new film.[6] On March 31, 2021, it was reported that Netflix bought the rights to two Knives Out sequels for over $400million.[7]
Influences
Johnson said his key influences were works of Edgar Allan Poe and John Dickson Carr, as well as elements of works of Agatha Christie, especially her novel And Then There Were None (1939).[8] Carr's The Hollow Man (1935) is repeatedly referenced within the film.[9] The flashback scenes depicting Grace Wicks destroying the church were influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).[10] Johnson also drew from his own religious upbringing in Evangelicalism, with the atheist Blanc reflecting his feelings on organized religion. However, he chose to have the film focus on Catholicism for aesthetic reasons, saying the churches he grew up in "kind of looked like Pottery Barns" and would therefore serve as a poor visual basis for the film.[11]
Writing
In June 2022, Johnson revealed Knives Out 3 was a working title with his intent being each film has a distinct title, citing the works of Agatha Christie as his inspiration for the films and the individual titles.[12] In November 2022, Johnson said he was preparing to work on writing the third film.[13] By January 2023, Johnson confirmed he had started writing the script for the third film, stating it will be tonally and thematically different from the previous installments.[14] Johnson later stated though he had approved the subtitle of A Knives Out Mystery for the previous installment, he would like to rename the series and add A Benoit Blanc Mystery as subtitles to future installments.[15]
In October 2023, following the resolution of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Johnson announced he had started working on the script for the third film. The filmmaker stated he had the premise planned, and could begin writing again.[16] The film's title Wake Up Dead Man comes from a phrase in the folk song "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos", though Johnson notes that it is also "kind of" derived from the title of the song of the same name by U2.[17][18][19]
The end credits of the film feature a series of portraits of the main characters, for which the cast posed in costume for English painter Isabella Watling.[33]
Filming
Church of the Holy Innocents
Johnson's regulars Steve Yedlin and Nathan Johnson returned as cinematographer and composer, respectively.[34][35]Principal photography began on June 10, 2024, in London.[22][36][37] First-look photos from the set revealed Craig's character, Benoit Blanc, with a noticeably different, longer hairstyle than in previous films.[38] On June 19, 2024, Close revealed she was "really hit hard" with both COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which was also revealed to have resulted in her being able to only participate in two days of filming by that point in time.[39][40] Filming was completed on August 17.[41]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 330 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "Giving Benoit Blanc a worthy mystery with its genuinely soulful fixation on faith and a scene-stealing Josh O'Connor performance, Wake Up Dead Man is another Knives Out puzzle that comes together splendidly."[50]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 59 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[51]
Damon Wise for Deadline wrote that the film "may be the best one yet" in the Knives Out franchise due to its more introspective nature.[52] On the German arthouse portal Programmkino.de, Dieter Oßwald wrote, "this sequel also offers everything a Knives-coup needs: perfectly quirky characters, superb tension, witty twists, star power, and a brilliant Daniel Craig with a screen presence that exudes effortless cool."[53] Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times wrote that what makes the film work is that "Father Jud and Benoit Blanc are two peas in a pod, when it comes right down to brass tacks."[54]
Some reviewers responded to the movie's use of Catholicism with enthusiasm,[55] while others found aspects unbelievable.[56]
In September 2022, Johnson confirmed his intention to make more films in the series.[67] Later that month, Craig and Johnson separately said they would continue making further films, as long as they were both involved.[68] In October 2025, Johnson stated that he had nothing planned for a fourth film in the series, though he did express a willingness to make another film as long as he and Craig have fun doing them and audiences enjoy them. He said he finds them challenging to make, especially in terms of developing new plots.[69]
It was announced in November 2025 that Johnson and Craig were "starting to formulate ideas" for a potential fourth Knives Out movie.[70] And in January 2026 Johnson said he has "some basic, elemental, conceptual ideas."[71]
Notes
↑Segan, one of Johnson's main collaborators, previously appeared in Knives Out (2019) as Trooper Wagner and Glass Onion (2022) as Derol.
↑Gordon-Levitt, one of Johnson's main collaborators, previously had voice cameos in Knives Out as Detective Hardrock and in Glass Onion as the Hourly Dong.
↑Sylt, Chris; Reid, Caroline (October 29, 2025). "UK paid $41M to shoot new 'Knives Out' Netflix movie in London instead of New York". New York Post. Archived from the original on December 16, 2025. Retrieved December 7, 2025. Britain's blockbuster incentives slashed the total bill for Netflix's "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" to $151.7 million, according to filings with the British companies register. That's versus a total tab of $192.7 million – an outsized figure even by Hollywood standards which nevertheless was "in line with the production budget," according to the filings.
↑Josh O'Connor, Kerry Washington, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin and Rian Johnson talk "Knives Out". Variety Events. Toronto: YouTube. Retrieved December 3, 2025. I more know that phrase from this—I think it's originally a folk song that Pete Seeger heard from Lead Belly; I heard the recording of Pete Seeger doing it. And there's a phrase in this song, 'Wake up, dead man', so that's why it was originally in my head.
↑Fügmann, Lina (October 14, 2025). "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery". Programmkino (in German). Retrieved October 19, 2025. diese Fortsetzung bietet alles, was ein "Knives"-Coup braucht. Vollendet schräge Figuren. Superbe Spannung. Witzige Wendungen. Star-Auftrieb. Sowie einen grandiosen Daniel Craig mit leinwandpräsenter Lässigkeit.
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