Knives Out 3 Continues Rian Johnson’s Musical Tradition On Netflix
Just as his filmmaking career was getting started back in 2008 with Brick, Rian Johnson paired with folky rock band The Mountain Goats to helm their music video, “Woke Up New.” And, while this marked just one of two music videos that Johnson has credits directing over his career (the second being with LCD Soundsystem), the filmmaker’s love of music can be seen all over his sprawling repertoire of films. Now that it’s been revealed that another Knives Out movie is on the way, we can better dig into its title as Wake Up Dead Man is a song by U2.
Pop
Found on the same album as other tunes like “Discothèque” and “Staring at the Sun,” “Wake Up Dead Man” comes from the band’s 1996 album, Pop. In the past, Johnson has used the songs of two other legendary bands to name his projects, with the original Knives Out nodding to the Radiohead song of the same name and its follow-up, Glass Onion, paying homage to The Beatles.
In both previous films, the titles have tied in with the plot and story in one way or another meaning that we can expect something similar with Wake Up Dead Man.
Wake Up Dead Man
Johnson took to his social media to share the news that Knives Out was moving into full-on franchise territory last week with a fun teaser revealing the movie’s official title. With some fun visuals and a voice-over from Daniel Craig’s dutiful detective, Benoit Blanc, the director teased Wake Up Dead Man as the biggest mystery yet.
Like the second installment in the film series, Wake Up Dead Man will eventually land on Netflix with the possibility of a limited theatrical run up in the air.
Past Movies
From that very first introductory teaser, it was clear that Craig would be returning to his role as Benoit Blanc, the legendary detective who’s been at the center of the last two mysteries. However, beyond that, other cast names weren’t immediately revealed.
The last two movies have featured the talents of Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, and more so when the first few names began to leak their way into public knowledge, it wasn’t a huge surprise that several A-list stars are already involved with Wake Up Dead Man.
The Cast
The first drop included Challengers star Josh O’Connor and Priscilla’s Cailee Spaeny as the two first official names to be added to the Wake Up Dead Man call sheet. Along with his recent appearance alongside Zendaya in the steamy tennis flick, O’Connor has been seen in TV projects including Peaky Blinders and Doctor Who as well as the feature-length production, God’s Own Country.
Cailee Spaeny’s career has been building and building in recent years from her performance in HBO’s crime series, Mare of Easttown, to a leading role in The Craft: Legacy. Most recently, audiences spotted the young star in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla and will soon see her take on extra-terrestrial beings in Alien: Romulus.
2025
Yesterday truly set the entertainment world ablaze when it was announced that Fleabag and Ripley star Andrew Scott has officially signed on for the latest mystery. On the big screen, the actor was most recently seen in All of Us Strangers opposite Paul Mescal, and we expect him to make a dashingly perfect addition to the Wake Up Dead Man cast.
Wake Up Dead Man is expected to drop on Netflix in 2025.
