Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third Knives Out movie, will deliver another Benoit Blanc mystery, but should look to some classic Agatha Christie mysteries for a key change. Knives Out and Glᴀss Onion have cemented this murder mystery franchise as a favorite among fans, while Daniel Craig’s Southern sleuth, Benoit Blanc, has become an iconic movie detective.

Blanc will be returning for a new mystery in the upcoming Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man. The third movie in the franchise looks to be taking a slightly darker tone to Blanc’s latest mystery, while still including a lot of the elements that made the first two such hits. Of course, this also includes a star-studded cast.

However, while the cast of Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man is already very exciting, with the likes of Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, and others already cast, the third movie will hopefully make one key change to the ensemble. In fact, with Knives Out drawing heavily from Agatha Christie mysteries, her best work proves how great this change can be.

Knives Out 3 Should Introduce An Ensemble Of Strangers, Not Friends Or Family

The Previous Movies Focused On Friends And Family As Suspects

Though Knives Out and Glᴀss Onion both dealt with Benoit Blanc solving murders with an eccentric group of suspects, the two movies managed to feel very different. However, writer-director Rian Johnson did use one detail for the ensembles of both movies in that all of the suspects knew each other.

In Knives Out, the cast was largely made up of the Thrombley family, many of whom had personal motivations for killing the wealthy patriarch, Harlan Thrombley. Glᴀss Onion dealt with a group of old friends, all of whom owe a lot to the tech billionaire, Miles Bron, who invites them to his private island.

The ensembles in both instances are great and the dynamics between the characters, including all of the bad blood, really add to the fun of the story. However, it is time for the franchise to move away from this setup and tell a story about a group of strangers who are at the center of the mystery.

It is a new dynamic that will keep things fresh for the franchise, which is something the Knives Out movies will have to consider. There are many amazing murder mystery movies out there, and it’s hard to deliver something new in a genre that has a certain formula. With this small change, Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man can differentiate itself.

Agatha Christie’s Best Mysteries Involve Strangers At The Center Of A Murder

Christie’s Mysterious Often Brought Strangers Together

There are a number of murder mystery movies that Rian Johnson drew from for the first two movies, but the filmmaker has admitted that Agatha Christie’s novels serve as the biggest influence on his own mystery franchise. Benoit Blanc himself is Johnson’s attempt to make his version of Christie’s iconic detective, Hercule Poirot.

While Christie has certainly explored mysteries involving friends and families who are the suspects, her three most famous novels, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and And Then There Were None, each deal with a group of characters who are, for the most part, strangers to each other.

The dynamic of the characters adds a lot to the suspense of the story, with the characters truly not knowing whom they can trust, which gives Poirot more of a challenge in deciphering each of their stories. There are also fun twists, such as in Murder on the Orient Express, with certain characters hiding that they know each other.

And Then There Were None, often regarded as Christie’s best novel, offers one of the most intriguing inspirations for a Knives Out movie. It deals with strangers invited to a private island by a mysterious host, only for them to be killed off one by one by an unknown killer.

Will Knives Out 3’s Characters Be Strangers? What We Know So Far

Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man Arrives In December 2025

Having the ensemble be made up of strangers would be an exciting new approach for the cast of Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man, but right now, it is unclear what direction the third movie is taking. Appropriate for the film, Wake Up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Man‘s plot is shrouded in mystery and the first trailer gave few hints as to what to expect.

There is a religious angle, with various scenes set in a church and both Josh Brolin and Josh O’Connor playing priests. The cast list also indicates that Kerry Washington will be playing Vera Draven while Darryl McCormack will be playing Cy Draven. It’s safe to ᴀssume some relationship between them, but that doesn’t mean all the characters know each other.

The religious aspect and the тιтle suggest that the third Knives Out centers on a funeral, which could be a brilliant setting for a group of strangers to come together. Some characters would likely know each other through the deceased, but it could be a mystery about people brought together by one ᴅᴇᴀᴅ man, and determining which one killed him.