New ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ Trailer Unleashes Latest Knives Out Mystery

Netflix has debuted the new trailer for Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. The streamer calls the latest “who-done-it,” featuring Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, “his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus.” The footage highlights the story at play, seeing a monsignor suffer a “seemingly impossible murder,” leading to a long list of suspects and a twisty plot, which should prove to be a unique challenge for the series protagonist, with Blanc being the thread that ties the stories together.

Wake Up Dead Man continues the trend of the Knives Out films, which feature ensemble, star-studded casts. Aside from Craig heading the film, he is joined by Kerry Washington, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, and Jeffrey Wright, with other stellar talents rounding out the mystery. The cast has become an integral part of each Knives Out mystery, each bound to have their own motives or shady natures, providing Blanc with a new challenge to undertake.

Writer and director Rian Johnson has returned to helm the third installment of his mystery series, following up the release of 2019’s wildly successful and lauded Knives Out. Wake Up Dead Man is set to have a limited theatrical run starting November 26, playing for only two weeks, much like Glass Onion in 2022. The third installment will then hit Netflix on December 12, just in time for holiday viewing.

‘Wake Up Dead Man’ Is Another Critical Knives Out Success

When Knives Out hit theaters in 2019, both critics and audiences loved what they saw, as the film received universal praise and was a breath of fresh air for mystery films at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes reviews gave the film a spectacular 97% Fresh rating, with the audience score not far behind at 92%. The movie more than recouped its $40 million budget, with worldwide grosses over $312 million, which gave director Rian Johnson the green light for a series.

Netflix acquired the rights to the follow-up films, which led to the release of the first sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, in 2022. Blanc’s first new mystery after Knives Out still featured a stellar cast, with a murder contained to a billionaire’s island. It also scored well with fans, earning a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, proving to be a worthy follow-up. However, it did not see the same box office returns as Knives Out due to Netflix’s release plan, which mirrors Wake Up Dead Man’s, with a limited theatrical run before debuting on the streamer.

Wake Up Dead Man is nearing release for audiences to get their first glimpse, but it has continued the Knives Out trend, pulling in the same impressive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the film at 95% Fresh. While the audience score won’t be in until the movie hits theaters, the franchise’s proven crowd-pleasing formula suggests another hit with Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.