'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' to Open the 2025 London Film Festival

For all that Rian Johnson's Knives Out series of films is really just Agatha Christie stories reset for the 21st century, outside of lead Daniel Craig, who plays Detective Benoit Blanc (he of the Foghorn Leghorn style southern drawl), the cast has been almost entirely American. There are reasons for that, the most obvious of which is that in 1925, Christie was writing about the dying aristocratic system's upper class during the final days of the British Empire; in 2025, Johnson is writing about the dying democratic system's upper class during the final days of the American Empire. However, for the third installment, Wake Up Dead Man, the cast finally brought aboard multiple British actors as the supporting guest cast.

In fact, there's enough U.K. talent in the film that the 69th London BFI Film Festival (held in October) has announced the film will grace the opening night premiere slot that kicks off the event. The festival already has a stacked competition class for 2025, including The Testament of Ann Lee, which brought down the house at its Venice International Film Festival premiere over the Labor Day holiday, and Hedda, which will see Tessa Thompson reimagine Henrik Ibsen's famous heroine, Hedda Gabler, for the big screen.

Wake Up Dead Man will technically premiere before opening London's BFI, debuting on September 6 out of competition, during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Unfortunately, for those who don't spend their lives watching films, the wait will be a couple of months yet, with the film once again playing limited theaters over Thanksgiving before moving to streaming in time for the Christmas holiday.  

U.K. Films

• Rose of Nevada (Director: Mark Jenkin; Main Cast: George MacKay, Callum Turner) UK
• The Testament of Ann Lee (Director: Mona Fastvold; Main Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Thomasin McKenzie, Tim Blake Nelson, Matthew Beard, Viola Prettejohn) UK
• Bad Apples (Director: Jonatan Etzler; Main Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Jacob Anderson, Rakie Ayola, Robert Emms, Sean Gilder, Kerry Howard) UK
• Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story (Director Yemi Bamiro; Documentary) UK/US

Non-U.K. Films Starring British Talent

• Hedda (Director: Nia DaCosta; Main Cast: Tessa Thompson) US

Here's the synopsis for Wake Up Dead Man:

Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix, circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt, tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq., aspiring politician Cy Draven, town doctor Nat Sharp, best-selling author Lee Ross, and concert cellist Simone Vivane. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.

Craig returns as Detective Blanc, and for this outing, he's joined by Brits Josh O’Connor (The Crown) as Hot Vicar Jud Duplenticy, Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) as author Lee Ross, and Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders) as aspiring politician Cy Draven. 

The rest of the cast includes Americans Glenn Close (Dangerous Liaisons), Josh Brolin (Dune) as Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, Mila Kunis (Black Swan) as DS Geraldine Scott, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as town doctor Nat Sharp, Kerry Washington (Scandal) as Vera Draven, Esq., Cailee Spaeny (Civil War) as concert cellist Simone Vivane, and Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) as groundskeeper Samson Holt.

The Knives Out series was conceived of by Johnson, who once again wrote the script in addition to directing and producing Wake Up Dead Man with Ram Bergman through their T-Street Productions.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will have its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, September 6, followed by an opening night debut at the 69th BFI London Film Festival on October 8. The film will be given a limited release in theaters on Wednesday, November 26, before shifting to stream on Netflix on Friday, December 12, 2025.