When Wake Up Dead Man arrives in the coming weeks, it’ll be the second in Rian Johnson’s two-picture deal with Netflix. And while some may have thought it to also be the end of his Knives Out trilogy, Johnson is expressing an interest in continuing the mystery franchise, likely at a different home.
Speaking with Variety at the BFI London Film Festival, Johnson talked about doing more Knives Out movies as long as Daniel Craig is up for continuing as Benoit Blanc…
“I don’t feel burnt out doing these at all. If anything I feel energized after doing this one. So as long as audiences want to keep seeing it, and Daniel and I are still having fun making them and still feel like we can come up with stuff that feels not just fresh, but a fresh challenge for us, I think that’ll translate to a new experience for the audience.”
Netflix paid Johnson $450M to direct two Knives Out sequels exclusively for the streamer, following the success of the first film in 2019. But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. Johnson wasn’t pleased that Glass Onion only received a one-week theatrical run, while Wake Up Dead Man will get two.
It’s seemed clear to me that Johnson is eager to move on from Netflix. We recently learned that his next film might be an original sci-fi story that he’s been developing for years. That will almost certainly be with another distributor, and it wouldn’t be shocking if Johnson takes Knives Out elsewhere, too.
Wake Up Dead Man gets a brief theatrical run on November 26th before moving to Netflix December 12th. You can check out my early review here!
