Rian Johnson has started circling ideas for a fourth Benoit Blanc mystery, while stressing that a new “Knives Out” film remains far from written. In a recent interview tied to the release of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” Johnson said he has “basic, elemental, conceptual ideas,” then emphasized he will make at least one original movie before returning to Blanc.
Johnson framed the early brainstorming as little more than “kernels,” and he drew a clear line between loose concepts and an actual movie. He said he has no settled theme and no location, and he wants to keep the next case undefined until he commits to writing. Johnson added that each Blanc entry works best when it reflects what audiences feel right now, so he prefers to let time pass and see what kind of story fits that moment before locking in a premise.
The comments arrive as Netflix rolls out “Wake Up Dead Man,” the third film built around Craig’s detective and Johnson’s standalone structure: a new setting, a new roster of suspects, and a case that does not require homework from earlier installments. Netflix says the film played in select theaters starting Nov. 26 and began streaming Dec. 12, following festival stops that included Toronto and London.
Any fourth film also sits inside a long-running debate about how these mysteries should reach audiences. Netflix paid a reported $450 million for the rights to the second and third films in 2021, a deal that shifted the franchise’s center of gravity toward streaming. In 2022, Johnson publicly pushed for broader theatrical access for “Glass Onion,” while exhibitors voiced frustration with limited windows—pressure that continues to hover over each new release strategy, even as the movies keep generating franchise momentum.
