With Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out film title announced a few days ago, there have been rumors swirling around who’s joining the only confirmed cast, Daniel Craig, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wake Up Dead Man, the third installment of Johnson’s massive successful Knives Out franchise, may have cast Cailee Spaeny and Josh O’Connor in major roles. Other names in the mix are Lindsay Lohan and Tom Hardy.
Will they or won’t they… have their Knives Out?
The first movie, Knives Out, was released in 2019 under Lionsgate. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was both a critical and commercial success with a 97% Tomatometer and a 92% audience rating. It earned $312.9 million on the worldwide box office against a $30 million budget.
After that success, Johnson sold the rights to the next two installments exclusively to Netflix. The sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, was released in 2022. It replicated the success of its predecessor with a 91% Tomatometer and a 92% audience rating. It all spend seven weeks on Netflix’s global top ten, with 301 million hours watched. Through 2023, it would earn 161.5 million hours, equivalent to 68.7 million views.
Until last week, details about the third film were kept secret. The title was revealed on Netflix’s TUDUM site on Friday. After that, Johnson posted a short clip on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “I love everything about whodunnits, but one of the things I love most is how malleable the genre is. There’s a whole tonal spectrum from Carr to Christie, and getting to explore that range is one of the most exciting things about making Benoit Blanc movies.”
The Return of Benoit Blanc
So far only Benoit Blanc (Craig), Spaeny and O’Connor have been confirmed. All other roles are still up for grabs. However, two names have been mentioned for roles in the next installment.
Spaeny recently starred in Alex Garland’s Civil War with Kristen Dunst. Last year, she played the titular role in Sofia Coppola’s movie Priscilla about Elvis Presley’s ex-wife, alongside Jacob Elordi. She’ll next be seen in Fede Alvarez’s sci-fi horror Alien: Romulus, which will be released on Aug. 16.
Emmy winner O’Connor played one of the three leads in Luca Guadagnino’s sports drama Challengers with Zendaya and Mike Faist. He won his first Emmy off his first nomination as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2021 for playing Prince Charles in Netflix’s The Crown.
The actor will next be seen in the World War I romance The History of Sound with Paul Mescal currently in post-production. He has two projects in pre-production: drama thriller Rosebushpruning with Kristen Stewart and Elle Fanning; and another romance which reunites him with Guadagnino, Camere separate, with Léa Seydoux.
Deux Moi, an Instagram celebrity gossip account, first reported that Hardy and Lohan may also be in talks to take on roles in the third movie. Other celebrities have expressed interest in joining the Knives Out franchise, such as Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti, who wants to give Craig’s Benoit Blanc “a run for his money.”
While Wake Up Dead Man’s filming schedule has not been made public yet, Johnson posted on X on Friday, “We’re about to go into production on the third one, and I’m very, very excited to share the title, which gives a hint of where it’s going.”
What’s On Netflix said that production will start on June 10.
Follow Us
Subscribe
