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The rumors are true, fam! <a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=black%20cosmopolitan%20%2B%20%22Daniel%20Craig%22">Daniel Craig</a> is officially back as everyone's fave Southern sleuth, Benoit Blanc. And this time? The mystery might just be the most twisted creation from the brilliant mind of Rian Johnson. The trailer for <i>Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery</i> just hit, and from the jump, when Blanc warns us that <i>this</i> case is unlike anything he's ever seen, you know you're in for a wild ride.
Mark your calendars! This cinematic journey hits theaters November 26th, then lands on Netflix December 12th. But let's be real, the suspense is already too real.
This chapter takes Blanc way, way off the beaten path – no more Greek islands or publishing empires. We're talking upstate New York, where a shocking, straight-up impossible death rocks a community already walking on eggshells. At the center? Father Jud Duplenticy, played by the always-amazing Josh O’Connor. He's a former boxer-turned-priest sent to help Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, brought to life by the one and only Josh Brolin. From the jump, it's clear: the church pews are overflowing with secrets.
And those secrets? They belong to a whole congregation of characters: a devoted church lady, a weary groundskeeper, a tightly-wound attorney, a local politician on the rise, the town doctor, a reclusive author, and a cellist who brings her own kind of drama. Life's already complicated when this impossible murder goes down, pushing police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to call in Benoit Blanc. As the trailer makes clear, Blanc lives for a mystery that laughs in the face of logic.
Rian Johnson himself said this script was the toughest he's ever written. You can feel it in every frame: darker tone, higher stakes, comedy with something unsettling bubbling underneath. But it's still got that classic Knives Out charm – a killer ensemble thrown into a pressure cooker, and a detective swooping in when things look totally unsolvable.
The cast? Stacked! Craig's leading the charge with Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church. Johnson always says he casts these movies like a dinner party, a group of people he actually wants to chill with. And it shows! That kind of energy makes the drama so real, the humor so sharp.
Shout out to those keeping up with the titles: yep, this one's named after a U2 banger from their 1997 album Pop, staying true to the tradition of Knives Out (Radiohead) and Glass Onion (The Beatles). Johnson says he's had "Wake Up Dead Man" stuck in his head for years, way before picking it for the film, and that it's got roots in American folk music, too. Like everything in these mysteries, the title feels like a clue in itself.
Production wrapped in London in summer 2024, and the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before hitting the London Film Festival. Johnson even hinted he might take a break from the franchise after this one to switch it up – so Blanc's latest adventure might be our last for a bit.
If this is the end for now, Johnson is going all-out: a murder that shouldn't be possible, a community falling apart from its own secrets, and a detective who's all about the truth, no matter how dark it gets.
Daniel Craig is back as Benoit Blanc — and the new trailer for <i>Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery</i> is already giving “this might be his wildest case yet.” The film drops Blanc into an upstate New York parish where an impossible murder shatters a community hiding more secrets than scripture.
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