‘Wake Up Dead Man’ Team Doesn’t See ‘Knives Out’ As A Franchise, Has No Plans For Benoit Blanc Prequel: “There’s No Big Picture”
Although Rian Johnson‘s original whodunnit film has spawned a trilogy, he and producing partner Ram Bergman are hesitant to call Knives Out a franchise.
During Monday’s premiere of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out TrilogyBergman told Deadline “there’s no big picture” when it comes to the Netflix murder mystery films, each starring Daniel Craig as private investigator Benoit Blanc.
“We don’t really look at it as a franchise, we’re looking at it as each movie on its own,” he said on the red carpet at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. “And it doesn’t feel any different than working on any other movie with Rian.”
Bergman continued, “The idea is feeling like, before every movie, does the movie feel dangerous? Does this movie feel like a risk? Because if it’s not, what’s the point of doing it? And again, I don’t think we’re looking at it as a franchise. We’re looking at it as, how can we make something different than the first two, and how can we make it something really good and special? That’s it.
“There’s no big picture of franchises. The business people might think that, but we’re not looking at it that way,” he said.
While a fourth Knives Out-ing could be in store for Benoit, Johnson has no plans to flesh out the character further than his capacity as the sleuthing thread connecting the movies.
“I don’t know. For me, I feel Benoit Blanc, he’s the detective, and his job in these things is to solve the crime,” he explained. “And I kinda don’t wanna step outside that to a flashback or anything explaining why he became a detective or something. I feel like, what’s interesting is seeing how he engages. But we do learn quite a bit about him through seeing his process and through seeing his relationship with the main people. And in this one, I think you get a real glimpse into a certain part of his soul.”
In Wake Up Dead Manpremiering Nov. 26 in select theaters before it’s available to stream Dec. 12 on Netflix, Benoit declares himself “a heretic,” but like each character in the ensemble film, he goes through his own spiritual journey while investigating the mysterious death of Msgr. Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) in a small parish.
Ram Bergman and Rian Johnson attend Netflix’s ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ premiere on Nov. 17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
JC Olivera/Variety
“With this one, I knew I wanted to kind of ground it a little bit more, and for me, I thought making it about something that’s very personal for me would be a way to do that,” explained Johnson. “I was also curious to see if we could make one of these films that’s still a Benoit Blanc mystery—so, it’s a big, fun, entertaining thing that hopefully lots of people will come see and have a good time—but also, in real nuanced and generous way, hopefully, talks about faith in America today. So, that was a big challenge.”
In addition to Craig reprising his role as Benoit Blanc, Wake Up Dead Man stars Josh O’Connor, Mila Kunis, Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack and Thomas Haden Church, plus some star-studded cameos.
