Detective Benoit Blanc is back on the case, with Daniel Craig returning to lead the third instalment in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series.
Titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the new film promises the darkest chapter yet in Johnson’s growing murder mystery universe.
The announcement most welcome (at least amongst this writer), with Johnson’s sharp scripts and playful plotting making the films so endlessly entertaining, you can almost forgive Craig for persisting with that peculiar Southern drawl.
A new setting and a new crime
This time the story unfolds inside a small-town parish.
A young priest, Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor), is assigned to work under the magnetic but volatile Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin).
The congregation is made up of a varied group of locals including Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).
When a shocking and seemingly impossible murder takes place, suspicion has nowhere obvious to land. With the community shaken, police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) calls on Benoit Blanc to dig into the tangle of secrets and motives.
The mystery (series) continues
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery brings another ensemble cast of award-winning talent, balancing intrigue, eccentric characters, and a crime that refuses to be easily solved.
The film is set to expand Johnson’s carefully crafted world of modern murder mysteries, with Blanc at its centre – ready to peel back the layers of a crime that defies simple explanation.