Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery marks the third installment in director Rian Johnson’s beloved whodunit universe, and fans, cinephiles, and gay Twitter have already begun preparing their reaction gifs. Get ready to welcome back the world’s most charming gentleman detective Benoit Blanc with his crisp suits, thick accent, and delicious dramatic timing intact.
Daniel Craig once again steps into the role of Benoit Blanc, everyone’s favorite Southern, queer-coded (now, canonically queer) sleuth whose deductive powers are as sharp as his wardrobe. But if you’re expecting another breezy murder romp, think again—this new mystery promises to be the darkest and strangest chapter yet. Think church bells, shadowy secrets, and more twists than a pretzel factory.
RELATED: Daniel Craig on Portraying a Queer Character: “Who wouldn’t want to…”
A Little Town, A Big Murder, A Lot of Trouble
Set in a quiet parish with more tension than a family reunion group chat, the story begins with young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor—yes, the Challengers boy) arriving to work under firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). But the pews hold more than prayer and polite chit-chat.
Among the townspeople:
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Glenn Close as Martha Delacroix, the kind of church lady who knows everything
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Thomas Haden Church as Samson Holt, the watchful groundskeeper
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Kerry Washington as lawyer Vera Draven, tightly wound enough to snap
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Daryl McCormack as aspiring politician Cy Draven
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Jeremy Renner as Dr. Nat Sharp (bless the towns that still have a local doctor)
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Andrew Scott as bestselling author Lee Ross
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Cailee Spaeny as cellist Simone Vivane, brooding, gifted, and very suspiciously serene
And then—boom. A murder. Shocking, impossible, and the kind that makes even the local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) run out of coffee.
Enter Benoit Blanc, who’s summoned not because things are weird, but because they are too weird. And nothing gets the man moving like a case that simply shouldn’t make sense.
Not Making a Big Deal About the Gay Detective… and That’s the Point
With this film, Benoit Blanc continues to exist as a queer character—something both Daniel Craig and Rian Johnson treat with a refreshing level of casual normalcy.
Craig, in interviews, has been wonderfully blunt about it: being gay is simply part of Blanc’s life. No special spotlight. As he told The Independent, it’s “normal” and they “don’t make a song and dance out of it.” To The Sunday Times, he added that film should “reflect life,” and that Blanc’s relationship mirrors the people he knows.
Johnson echoed this, saying Blanc’s queerness “just felt right” and was always a natural extension of the character—never a marketing gimmick or identity bullet point.
Honestly? This is the kind of representation that feels like real progress. Queer audiences have spent decades begging for exactly this: characters who get to be smart, stylish, messy, brilliant, ridiculous, heroic—and queer—without their sexuality being the only interesting thing about them. Pride doesn’t always need fireworks; sometimes it just looks like a character living authentically in a story that isn’t defined by their queerness.
A Cast That Could Solve the Murder Just by Looking Hot Enough
Let’s not pretend this isn’t an incredibly sexy cast. Hot Priest. Josh O’Connor. Mila Kunis radiating chaos. Glenn Close giving what can only be described as “prestige suspicious.” Jeremy Renner returning to the screen. And Josh Brolin, who could glare a confession out of anyone.
Johnson has once again assembled a cast so stacked it might violate a local ordinance…and our weekly Netflix binge-watching.
What You Can Expect
Misdirection. Hidden motives. Religious politics. A murder with no obvious suspect. Banter so sharp it might as well be filed with the weapons. The cinematic comfort of watching Daniel Craig theatrically out-reason everyone in the room. And twists—lots of them.
This is Knives Out at its most gothic, most ambitious, and most deliciously theatrical.
Save the Date
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is set to hit theaters in the United States on December 12, 2025. If you don’t want to miss out on the film’s premiere, you can add the movie to your Netflix’s My List by clicking HERE. The film is directed and written by Rian Johnson, with Johnson and longtime collaborator Ram Bergman serving as producers.
Mystery lovers, queer moviegoers, and anyone who has ever been personally victimized by a plot twist—get ready. The game is officially afoot.
Planning to catch this (a) because I love me some Glenn Close; (b) Andrew Scott deserves to get more attention so that the next time he is nominated, he’ll be taken seriously by the actor branch and be upvoted, (c) Josh is always lovely in something I actually can have the patience to sit through (unlike La Chimera); I hope we at least get another small bit with Hugh Grant, but don’t expect it – and watching some of the clips from the first movie, I forgot how much more clean cut (and, IMHO, better) Craig looked without the long hair and grizzled jawline.