- - Rian Johnson explains why he wanted to change the “Knives Out” 'trajectory' after “Glass Onion”

Wesley StenzelDecember 29, 2025 at 4:00 AM

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Daniel Craig and Josh O'Connor in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'Key points -

Rian Johnson says that he wanted to shake up the "trajectory" of the Benoit Blanc series after Glass Onion set certain expectations.

"I had wanted to have each of these movies have their own identity and truly be trying different things," the Knives Out filmmaker says.

The director says he "grounded" Wake Up Dead Man because he didn't want audiences to think the series was "just gonna be a big, glamorous destination each time."

Rian Johnson doesn't want the Knives Out series to grow stagnant or rest on its laurels.

The filmmaker's third Benoit Blanc murder mystery, Wake Up Dead Man, recently released on Netflix, boasting a more somber tone and a darker color palette than its predecessor, 2022's Glass Onion.

Johnson tells Entertainment Weekly that he always wanted to ensure each of his movies feels completely distinct, even though they all feature the same gentleman detective, played by Daniel Craig.

"From the start, I had wanted to have each of these movies have their own identity and truly be trying different things," Johnson says. "I wasn't really interested in just sort of continuing with it as a series or just making the same thing over and over."

Netflix

Daniel Craig in 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery'

The first Knives Out (2019) revolved around a wealthy New England family, and was primarily set in a Gothic mansion. Glass Onion upped the glitz factor, moving the action to a private Greek island populated by a tech billionaire and his visiting celebrity friends. In comparison to that second film, Wake Up Dead Man feels significantly more intimate, as it exclusively takes place in a small town in upstate New York where a mysterious murder rattles a tiny church community.

"I was really proud of Glass Onion," Johnson says. "But part of the reason why I wanted to make the third one right away is that I didn't want audiences to settle into an idea that the trajectory from Knives Out to Glass Onion meant it was just gonna be a big, glamorous destination each time, or that things were gonna get bigger and broader."

To achieve that goal, Johnson looked inward. "I thought, Okay, with the third one, I want to ground it. I wanted to kind of bring it back down to Earth," he recalls. "And to me, the way into that, and the ultimate challenge for that was: Can I take the most personal, tangled thing in my life and use a big Benoit Blanc mystery — not as a cover for that thing, but use the movie to engage with that thing? And that, for me, is the idea of faith."

Netflix

Daniel Craig in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'

Johnson says that he has "basic, elemental, conceptual ideas" for a fourth Benoit Blanc mystery, but reiterates that he wants each installment of the series to have a distinct flavor.

"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," the filmmaker says. "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."

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Wake Up Dead Man stars Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack, Cailee Spaeny, and Thomas Haden Church. The film is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix.

on Entertainment Weekly

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”