Netflix released a brief teaser and confirmed the release date for Wake Up Dead Man, the new Knives Out film from writer and director Rian Johnson.
To the surprise of exactly no one, TUDUM and Netflix dedicated some time to Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery during the big live event tonight. It was an extended "that's where you're wrong" bit with dramatic music and all, but it did show the stacked cast for this film while also telling us almost nothing about it. This is a mystery movie, though, so we don't want to know that much going in. However, we did get a brief teaser along with a date announcement, and the vibes of the teaser are looking pretty fun if we say so ourselves. And if you need some help learning your Roman numerals, the release date is 12/12/2025.
The only summary we have for Wake Up Dead Man is: "Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet." The cast list underneath the date announcement says, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the newest Benoit Blanc whodunnit from writer and director Rian Johnson, starring Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
We knew that a Knives Out film would be coming out on Netflix for a while, and we learned in May 2024 that the film, titled Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, would be going into production. However, aside from that, we knew very little until May. Director and writer Rian Johnson took the time to his official X/Twitter to share the logo and official title of the film. They are still keeping that "A Knives Out Mystery" part even though Johnson has said that he doesn't like it, and he revealed that they were "very close" to entering production. In mid-August, Johnson confirmed that production on the new Knives Out film had wrapped.
Johnson said during the announcement, "I love everything about whodunnits, but one of the things I love most is how malleable the genre is. There's a whole tonal spectrum from Carr to Christie, and getting to explore that range is one of the most exciting things about making Benoit Blanc movies."