According to Variety, Andrew Scott has been cast in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.  He joins a cast which includes Josh O’Connor (Challengers) and Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla). Of course, it wouldn’t be a Knives Out movie if Daniel Craig wasn’t back to reprise his role as Blanc.

We don’t have any details on who Scott can be playing, but we know that he can play both endearing and threatening depending on what the role demands.

Though some may think that Johnson may be leaning too hard on these ‘whodunnits’ ever since Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he does say that he thinks that the genre is very diverse, and there are multiple ways that he can take a stab at the murder-mystery with this new IP. He says:

“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. We’re about to go into production on the 3rd one, and I’m very, very excited to share the title, which gives a little hint of where it’s going.”

Hopefully we get more cast announcments soon; fingers crossed Kelly Marie Tran or Adam Driver get cast in this one.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is set to come to Netflix sometime in 2025.

After the success of Glass Onion, Netflix has now revealed the title of the next Knives Out Mystery:

We don’t have any actual clips for Wake Up Dead Man, but we do have Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc delivering voice over:

“In the beginning the knives came out, then behold, the glass was shattered, but my most dangerous case yet is about to be revealed…”

With Glass Onion having a very different story from Knives Out, Johnson talks about how Wake Up is going to differentiate itself from the rest of the series, saying that it will be an homage to a very diverse genre in filmmaking. Johnson tells Variety:

“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. We’re about to go into production on the 3rd one, and I’m very, very excited to share the title, which gives a little hint of where it’s going.”

It’s definitely no mystery that Johnson is really getting into the whodunit genre. Besides the Knives Out movies, he also has his series Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne which is also in the same genre (and it got a Season 2 renewal from Peacock).

We don’t know which will come out first, but hopefully we can get our first teasers for Wake Up Dead Man and Poker Face Season 2 before the year ends.

Watch out for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery when it releases on Netflix sometime in 2025.

Talking to The Rich Eisen Show (via @adamdriverarchv), Driver shares how Kylo Ren’s story was supposed to be a reversed Vader where he starts out unsure and ends fully committed to the Dark Side. Watch this:

NEW • Adam Driver talking about Star Wars on The Rich Eisen Show December 12, 2023 — Clip

Radio TV Appearance | The Rich Eisen Show | Interview | 1080p | 12.12.23 pic.twitter.com/NFnyiMJFes

— Adam Driver Archive (@adamdriverarchv) December 12, 2023

“[J.J. Abrams’] idea was almost the opposite journey of Vader where Vader starts the most confident, the most committed to the Dark Side, and by the last movie he’s the most vulnerable and weak; and he wanted to start at the opposite where this character was the most confused and vulnerable, and by the end of the three movies be the most committed to the Dark Side.”

Driver said that this was the original direction, and anyone who read the script for Trevorrow’s Duel of the Fates will also know that this was the original plan for the trilogy as well. In that version Kylo Ren dies in a final climactic duel with Rey (but Trevorrow does say that Kylo Ren manages to redeem himself last minute with ‘the light in his eyes’).

As a fan of The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker was honestly a huge punch in the face, but over time, you do get to appreciate a lot of things about it, including Rey’s arc and how they were able to bring Ben Solo back to the light.

We don’t know what they have planned for the future, but I am hoping that we get a trilogy that feels original and fantastic; let the fanboys keep their fanservice Mandalorian shows.

As it turns out, Johnson can now fully jump into the project, especially with the WGA Strike being over. Talking to The Wrap, Johnson says about the third film:

“It’s coming along… obviously couldn’t work during the strike, and now that it’s over, I’m diving in full force, and so it’s coming along. I’ve got the premise, I’ve got the setting, I’ve got what the movie is in my head. It’s just a matter of writing the damn thing.”

With Knives Out being such a critical darling when it came out, Johnson had delivered another interesting whodunnit story with the sequel Glass Onion, which came out on Netflix.

We don’t know where a third movie could go yet, but we should expect more or less the same kind of formula with the two past Knives Out films—Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, attempting to solve a mysterious murder, paired with an all-star cast of the most acclaimed actors.

With Kenneth Branagh pretty much diving into his reinterpretation of the Agatha Christie novels, it really does feel refreshing that Johnson is delivering something in the same genre which feels like it’s for a modern audience.

I’m just here hoping he gets it all out of his table soon so he can get back to Star Wars; because things have not been the same since The Last Jedi, which some consider an impactful cultural shift in the franchise and fandom.

No release date has been announced for Knives Out 3, but you can check out the first two films now streaming on Netflix.

As per an official announced, Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne has been renewed for a second season. Here’s the post:

Charlie Cale isn't done yet. Poker Face will be back for Season 2! No bullsh*t. pic.twitter.com/HIjfgSox1W

— Peacock (@peacock) February 15, 2023

We don’t know where the series is planning to go, but we should suspect that Charlie (Lyonne) finds a natural penchant for mystery solving thanks to her ability to detect when anyone is lying. Before she can push on with that though, she’ll have to deal with the bounty on her head that’s been placed there by one angry Casino owner.

While I was expecting the series to end up like Knives Out, I found the character of Charlie is actually a different kind of fun to watch compared to Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc. While Blanc is good at deducing all kinds of evidence, Charlie just kind of puts things together clumsily, while at the same time just being a carefree ‘trashy’ adult.

Here’s to hoping we get a Blanc/Cale team-up soon.

Here’s the official series description:

Poker Face is a 10-episode “mystery-of-the-week” series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.

Catch new episodes of Poker Face on Peacock every week.

Talking to Empire, Johnson confirmed that his next movie is still a Benoit Blanc film. He explains, “I’m making the next [Benoit Blanc movie] next… because it’s the most exciting thing right now to me. That’s served me really well. I feel like any movie I’m making, I need to be making it because I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’m jumping into the next Benoit Blanc next because I can’t think about another story.”

Johnson has said that he can imagine that these Benoit Blanc capers could go on for a while, especially since Benoit Blanc isn’t the central character in any of them, but he’s mostly a tool to help tell the new, original story.

Admittedly, Johnson has been on a kind of ‘whodunnit’ fix. Besides the Knives Out movies, he’s also working on another murder mystery with Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne. Despite all these projects, Johnson says he still has a lot of ideas. He continues, “I’ve got a big cloud of ideas, but it hasn’t all snapped into focus yet… It’s exciting, though, and it’s very, very different from this one. That’s what I’m excited about.”

Personally I hoped that he would start updating on his Star Wars project, but seeing the way the internet is, I think he would have to wait at the very last minute to make that announcement. I’m just hoping that we have a lot more cerebral Star Wars projects like Andor by the time his trilogy gets announced.

For now, catch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery now streaming on Netflix.

Check out the trailer for Poker Face:

The official synopsis reads:

Poker Face is a 10-episode “mystery-of-the-week” series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.

With Knives Out and Glass Onion being murder-mystery movies themselves, I’m wondering how Johnson will make Poker Face feel different, but I think it would have something to do with the ‘investigator’ characters. Benoit Blanc may be a fantastic detective, but he still has to sift through the lies of the characters around him in order to get to the truth; Charlie, on the other hand, may not be so good at deduction, but she can always tell who’s lying—which could mean a different approach with these mystery stories.

I’ll admit, I am kind of worried that Johnson is starting to put himself in a specific genre box, but as long as the movies are entertaining, I’m going to check them out. I just hope he has time to work on his Star Wars trilogy because I’ve been a huge fan of his since Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Catch Poker Face when it premieres on Peacock on Jan. 26.

Watch this:

Here’s the official description:

Glass Onion costume designer Jenny Eagan discusess the wardrobe of the new Knives Out murder mystery and the thinking behind what characters played by Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Edward Norton, Dave Bautista and Kate Hudson wear in the film.

With the revelation that Benoit Blanc was actually gay, we really got to see the character’s wardrobe come out in this film, and we see Craig draped in all kinds of colourful costumes.

Despite Blanc’s wardrobe though, he still can’t outmatch the colors that Kate Hudson’s Birdie wears. While the cast of characters are colourfully written in their own way, the character of Birdie takes the colourful description literally with all of her outfits in the movie. I guess it makes sense if she was supposed to be a washed up designer/super model.

So far, Glass Onion has been receiving sparkling reviews, and a lot of fans can’t wait to see Benoit Blanc’s next colourful caper. In the meantime though, they’ll just have to settle for this film, and the first movie, Knives Out.

Catch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery now streaming on Netflix.

Watch this:

Thank you to the cast, crew and to everyone that watches #GlassOnion @KnivesOut @Netflix …never forget how it started @WWE #Batista #TheAnimal #ProudRoots #WWE pic.twitter.com/2QS4L2zAFW

— Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) December 23, 2022

I can’t tell if this is Bautista’s first or last day on the set of the movie, but based on the background, it looks like the location here is the home of Bautista’s character in the beginning of the film where he receives the puzzle box from Miles Bron (Edward Norton).

Though the murder-mystery genre has been done time and again, you have to commend Rian Johnson for being able to flip the whole thing on its head, with all the twists and turns of the story, and surprise reveals that a lot of fans don’t see coming.

You also have to love how he sets everything in the modern-day, and we get to watch everyone in the film actually go through the pandemic protocols that modern movies seem to be brushing off. Not to mention, Norton’s character Miles is a very sharp commentary on today’s billionaires—and a lot of people are comparing him to Elon Musk.

Here’s the official synopsis for the film:

Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Catch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery now streaming on Netflix.

Besides surprising fans with his appearance before screenings, Johnson has also been giving away signed Milk Duds for audiences in the front row. Johnson shares:

I saw Matrix Reloaded opening night front row at an IMAX and I was 4 feet from the screen. Paying it forward. https://t.co/YvffjcAWPB

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) November 27, 2022

You really have to hand it to Johnson. Though The Last Jedi had made an army of Star Wars nerds bug him perpetually online, he seems to have a very positive outlook about everything, and is always doing nice things for the audience. Even before The Last Jedi came out, Johnson had surprised fans in line for his panel at Star Wars Celebration.

So far, Glass Onion has been receiving some sparkling reviews. Though Knives Out feels like a one and done, it seems that Johnson has an entire franchise planned out around Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc character. Hopefully people will be singing the same tune when the movie finally comes out on Netflix.

Here’s the official synopsis for Glass Onion:

Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is currently screening in select theaters, but will debut on Netflix on Dec. 23.

Just in, Peacock has dropped the first look at Poker Face which is set to come out in January. Check this out:

Here’s the official description:

Poker Face is a 10-episode “mystery-of-the-week” series following Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve.

Besides Lyonne being at the center of the series, the show also includes a lot of other famous faces like Adrien Brody, Ron Perlman, Stephanie Hsu, and Tim Blake Nelson. Even long time Johnson collaborator Joseph Gordon-Levitt is part of the cast.

I have to say, the premise pretty much sounds like it could have Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc as the main character, but I guess Johnson is reserving him for the movies. With this series pretty much sounding like a Knives Out spinoff, I can’t help but wonder if Johnson actually had a bunch of ideas he couldn’t use for Glass Onion, and instead decided to just put them all in an alternate series.

Poker Face is set to start streaming on Peacock on Jan. 26, 2023. Catch Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery when it hits Netflix on Dec. 23.

In an interview with Variety, Johnson reveals that it’s been his busy schedule that’s stopped him from pushing forward with Star Wars. Johnson says:

“I have talked to Kathy [Kathleen Kennedy] about it and we’re still talking about it… I had such an amazing experience making ‘The Last Jedi.’ It’s entirely a matter of scheduling. For me, putting this [‘Glass Onion’] out and making the next one of these…the answer is I don’t know.”

When asked if we’ll eventually see the trilogy he planned, Johnson replied with a hopeful, “God, I hope so.”

If anything, a lot of fans have considered The Last Jedi to make a clear divide in the fandom, from fans who love fresh new stories, and fans who are mostly about adhering to the established status quo. After TLJ, you can say that we’ve been bombarded with material to help satiate the latter side of the fandom, but with shows like Andor, it seems that Lucasfilm is getting ready to embrace more diverse projects for Star Wars.

Personally, I loved The Last Jedi, and though the backlash cost us a well-rounded trilogy, I think that filmmakers like Johnson have the right idea when it comes to approaching a massive pop-culture IP like Star Wars.

Johnson hasn’t worked on his trilogy yet, but you can catch his upcoming film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery when it hits Netflix on Dec. 23.

Watch the teaser for Glass Onion down here:

The official description reads:

You’re invited to put the pieces together. In the follow-up to Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to peel back the layers of a mystery involving a new cast of colorful suspects.

Though the first movie had Blanc playing a pseudo-antagonist to Ana de Armas’ main character Marta, it’s said that this sequel will actually have Blanc front and center this time. I am curious as to who could be playing the part of Marta this time.

While murder-mysteries kind of have their own formula throughout the evolution of the genre, you have to comment Johnson for trying to add his own twist on the whodunit story. I mean, Knives Out didn’t even play out like a normal murder-mystery film, but elements of the genre were still there, and it was pretty fun just connecting the dots. The movie even managed to continue being exciting after the main villain of the film was revealed.

We don’t know how Glass Onion is going to play out, but knowing Johnson’s penchant for subverting expectations, I’m all in for another ride.

Catch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery when it comes to Netflix this Dec. 23.

Here’s her post:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Daisy Ridley (@daisyridley)

We don’t really know how active she’s going to be on the platform, but it’s great to see that she once again has an avenue where she has a chance to get close to fans. With Mark Hamill being so active in social media, it’s only right that fans of the Sequel Trilogy should get to connect to their hero as well.

For now, ‘Daisy Ridley’ is trending on Twitter, and fans are posting:

Daisy Ridley returning to social media in full “done with the BS” tea-sipping mode is GOAT behavior. pic.twitter.com/Sk6QNiYIhZ

— Alden Diaz @ SWCA (@ThatAldenDiaz) April 4, 2022

now that daisy ridley is back on social media, i hope everyone remembers to be kind and not drive her away again. pic.twitter.com/Rpk0HxG4A4

— peanut | ramadan mubarak (@REYSKYGOAT) April 4, 2022

https://twitter.com/CutieRidley/status/1511077773984604168

Of course, there’s no real way that you can get rid of toxic fans. I’m sure there are still a bunch of nuts sending toxicity Ridley’s way, but hopefully she prepared for it. What are the odds that she got advice from Rian Johnson? That guy has just been so optimistic on Twitter, it’s not like there are entire troll armies out there who are just continually bashing on him for making The Last Jedi.

We don’t know what’s next for Ridley now, but hopefully she has more roles for herself down the line. With The Rise of Skywalker far behind her, I hope she makes a return in the future, but for now, she’ll have to make do with cameo appearances like in Netflix’s The Bubble.

According to The Ankler, Lindelof is currently working on a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm.  Since it’s a rumor, we don’t have any official details, but Lindelof has said before that he would be interested in working on Star Wars under one specific condition.

He told Fandom:

“… at some point, but certainly not in the immediate future, I feel like I would love to do something in the Star Wars universe… Maybe a decade from now when I would no longer be blamed for ruining it. That would be a hoot.”

Granted, there may never be a time where there are fans who didn’t think that Star Wars was ruined. They were everywhere when the prequels came out, and they’re certainly still present with the release of the Sequel Trilogy and Disney+ shows.

Seeing how Lindelof handled Watchmen, I would definitely love for him to try his hand on Star Wars. While we have a lot of the fanservice shows like The Book of Boba Fett and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi, I would love to have a movie that really gets into the core themes of Star Wars and is not just full of lore and things for people to recognize—like The Last Jedi.

We don’t know if Lindelof is working on a Star Wars movie officially, but fans are gearing up for the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ this May 25.

Variety reports that the sequel to Knives Out is expected to hit Netflix in the last quarter of 2022. We don’t have any specific release date yet, but it’s speculated that it’s eyeing a release at an upcoming film festival.

As of now, we don’t know what the plot of the Knives Out sequel could be, but we should expect Benoit Blanc to once again be on the case to solve… something. If Rian Johnson is known for anything, it’s trying to subvert expectations, and it would just be too boring if this turned out to be another whodunit.

That being said, the first one was a fun subversion of the whodunit genre, so maybe the sequel could be a tribute to another genre of movies as well?

Craig is the only returning cast member from the first film, but Johnson has managed to assemble another star-studded cast for the sequel. This time around, the movie will have a cast list which includes Kathryn Hahn, Ethan Hawke, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, Edward Norton, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, and Leslie Odom Jr. Even if we do have a new cast, I would love a small update on Ana de Armas’ character from the first movie.

No official release date has been set for the Knives Out sequel, but expect it to hit Netflix near the end of 2022.

During an interview with Grazia, Ridley has confirmed that she had recently met with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and the news has gotten some fans really curious about what they could have been talking about.

Ridley confirmed when she was asked about keeping in touch with her Star Wars co-workers, “I went for breakfast with Kathy Kennedy the other day which was so nice.”

While this could have been nothing, one franchise lead actress doesn’t just have a meeting with the president of Star Wars to catch up on their careers. Fans were already hoping that we would get to see the cast of the Sequel Trilogy come back, and this could very well be the start of negotiations for all we know. Twitter is already being filled with speculation posts from fans:

https://twitter.com/flilisoffexegol/status/1448366801520406540

Daisy Ridley had breakfast with the boss woman herself, Kathleen “the Savior” Kennedy….. very interesting. Very interesting indeed. pic.twitter.com/e3DbuPvvbb

— Mandalorian Mark (@MarkMandalorian) October 13, 2021

https://twitter.com/OutlawNoah/status/1448508409624633349

While The Rise of Skywalker is being touted as the end of a franchise, a lot of elements do signal a new beginning for Star Wars. Rey just got her Skywalker mantle, why would Lucasfilm give her a brand new lightsaber and not have her use that thing at all?

Though Star Wars has had a good run in television recently, I’m still looking forward for its return in cinema. And while visits to old places and characters like The Mandalorian are nice, I prefer the stories that delve more on character and not just the consistency of the lore.

We don’t know if Ridley will ever come back for Star Wars, but The Book of Boba Fett does debut on Disney+ this Dec. 29.

Here’s the post from Johnson:

We just wrapped production on the next Benoit Blanc mystery and also I finally watched Annette and holy shit it’s amazing. Sending so much love and gratitude to our INCREDIBLE crew and cast and Leos Carax!

— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) September 13, 2021

As of now, we don’t know what the plot of the film is, but some are expecting another murder-mystery with Benoit Blanc on the case. With Johnson’s penchant for subverting expectations though, we should expect something a bit more different this time around when it comes to story.

If I were to guess, Johnson could be paying homage to another genre this time around. With the first film being a ‘whodunit’ type of story, I’m guessing that the sequel could be alluding to another story trope. What about a heist film?

As someone who really liked The Last Jedi, it’s great to see Johnson has kept working. With Johnson becoming a lightning rod for toxic members of the Star Wars fandom, I’m hoping he can get back to SW soon, as I thought he really dug deep and understood the core concepts of the franchise.

Besides Daniel Craig coming back to reprise the role of Benoit Blanc, the movie has gathered quite the cast. The list includes actors like Jessica Henwick, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn, and Ethan Hawke.

No release date has been set for the Knives Out sequel, but the film is expected to come out sometime in 2022.

When asked about a possible return, Boyega said that he would be open to it, saying, “Whichever way, I am open to the conversation as long as it is Kathleen, J.J., and maybe someone else and the team, it’s a no-brainer.”

anyways here’s John Boyega saying he’s open to come back as long as it’s with Kathy, the old crew, and maybe even JJ #ContinueReyandFinnsStory pic.twitter.com/r4gPK4GiSJ

— Palpamemes (@PalpyYT) May 25, 2021

It’s funny that Boyega should mention Abrams and Kennedy, seeing as a chunk of the fandom is somehow convinced that the two are responsible for all of the ‘terrible’ things that are happening to Star Wars. Just imagine how outraged these fans would be if Boyega mentioned Last Jedi director Rian Johnson.

Though we don’t know what Lucasfilm is planning for in the future, rumors have been going around that Boyega, along with the rest of the Sequel Trilogy cast, have signed on for more than three movies. With The Rise of Skywalker seeming like a new beginning for Rey, it would make sense that we get to see more of her (and her friends) down the line.

If anything, it’s likely Disney wants to wait out the young fans who have loved the Sequel Trilogy. Though the Prequels were critically abhorred when they came out, they are now nothing but beloved by fans who had grown up watching them. It’s possible Disney wants the fans of the ST to grow up and become more vocal online, so that when they bring back these ST characters, there will be more positive feedback visible, compared to the toxic backlash that we’re getting from these ‘real’ Star Wars fans now.

At least that’s my theory.

For now, you can catch Boyega’s Finn in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy now available on Disney+.

As per Deadline, Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) has been cast in the Knives Out sequel. No details have been revealed about Bautista’s character or the plot of the film overall, but everyone speculates that this will be another murder-mystery with Blanc right in the middle.

With Johnson having a penchant for subverting expectations though, I think this sequel will tackle some other kind of detective story. Even Knives Out had its own subversions from the murder-mystery genre, so what if Johnson just wants to make an entire trilogy as an ode to classic detective movies? It’s just my guess.

So far, Bautista is the first big name to join the cast, but other people have been hoping that Johnson makes a reunion with Last Jedi actor Adam Driver. While he’s at it, I wouldn’t mind a return from Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, or Kelly Marie Tran either.

No release date has been set for the Knives Out sequel, but you can catch Bautista as the lead in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Netflix movie, Army of the Dead which is set to premiere on May 21.