Although Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery is set to be the final movie in the trilogy, the Knives Out series could technically last a lot longer thanks to the works of legendary murder mystery author Agatha Christie. The Knives Out movies are known for a few things. Both 2019’s Knives Out and its 2022 sequel, Glᴀss Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, boast starry casts, fiendishly complicated central mysteries at their core, and a charismatic, quirky leading man in Daniel Craig’s iconic Benoit Blanc.
A detective of unparalleled skill and unapologetic eccentricity, Blanc clearly owes a creative debt to Agatha Christie’s iconic Hercule Poirot. While not every Agatha Christie movie adaptation recaptured the breezy charm of the author’s murder mystery novels, Craig’s turns as Blanc are arguably one of the best tributes to Poirot in film history. Ironically, with his wacky accent and larger-than-life persona, Blanc might be a better screen version of Poirot than the surprisingly dour, dramatic Poirot seen in Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie trilogy.
Knives Out’s Agatha Christie Borrow Means The Series Can Continue After Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man
The Franchise Drops Everything But Its Protagonist Between Movies
As such, it seems fitting that the Knives Out franchise can continue after its final installment thanks to the work of Agatha Christie. Per the director of the Knives Out movies, mystery enthusiast Rian Johnson, the series will keep dropping everything but its detective with each new installment. In September 2019, Johnson told Uproxx, “It’s just what Agatha Christie did. It’s just coming up with a whole new mystery, a whole new location, all new cast, whole new mechanics of the appeal of a mystery and everything.”
Although Netflix only paid for two sequels to Knives Out in their historically expensive deal with Johnson, the franchise could well continue past that original plan.
This approach means that, although Netflix only paid for two sequels to Knives Out in their historically expensive deal with Johnson, the franchise could well continue past that original plan. The Agatha Christie-inspired TV series Death in Paradise has lasted 14 seasons, cycling through no fewer than four different detectives in the process. Meanwhile, its two spinoff shows prove that the ratings juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
Similarly, Murder She Wrote lasted for a whopping 12 seasons while ITV’s series Agatha Christie’s Poirot made it to 70 episodes between 1989 and 2013. With endless chances to reinvent the series while holding on to the central character that keeps viewers invested, the Knives Out movies could become a starrier successor to these more modest small-screen successes. Admittedly, the franchise will likely never produce dozens of movies, but it could make much more than just three.
Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery’s Approach Accommodates An All-Star Cast
The Sequel Can Introduce Dozens Of New Actors
One of the main reasons that the Knives Out movies can continue in perpetuity is their reliance on starry ensemble casts. Knives Out 3 already missed out on a perfect casting trick by failing to add ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan icon Aubrey Plaza to the series, but Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery does boast the likes of Mila Kunis, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, and many more. Similarly, Glᴀss Onion: A Knives Out Mystery featured Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Leslie Odom Jr., and Madelyn Cline among its long cast list.
The Knives Out franchise’s reliance on star power is surprisingly good for the series, since the franchise will never run out of new talent to tap for each new outing. There is no shortage of famous actors who haven’t appeared in the series so far, and the setup of the franchise means each movie can introduce not just one more famous face, but over a dozen more. After all, every classic murder mystery needs a large swath of suspects.
Knives Out 3 Must Keep One Franchise Tradition Alive
Glᴀss Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Mentioned Benoit Blanc’s Private Life
Without dwelling on it, Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery should subtly flesh out Benoit Blanc’s personal life a little further. By the end of 2019’s Knives Out, viewers knew almost nothing about Craig’s detective save that he could never make sense of Thomas Pynchon’s 1973 masterpiece Gravity’s Rainbow. Early on in Glᴀss Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the audience learned that he had a partner in the form of Hugh Grant’s barely-glimpsed love interest.
Christie’s ingenious approach meant viewers always felt invested in the detective’s latest success, but never felt like they truly knew him.
However, the sequel obstinately refused to do any further digging. This mirrors Christie’s approach, with the iconic author gradually revealing minor elements of Poirot’s backstory over the years but never focusing entire novels on his personal life. This ingenious approach meant viewers always felt invested in the detective’s latest success, but never felt like they truly knew him or could solve the greatest mystery of all, namely how he became such an unparalleled catcher of criminals. To last beyond Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the Knives Out franchise must borrow this enigmatic approach.
Source: Uproxx
