‘It holds endless possibilities’: Knives Out future addressed by director Rian Johnson
'Knives Out' director Rian Johnson is open to the idea of continuing the whodunnit franchise after 'Wake Up Dead Man' - "as long as Daniel Craig wants to keep doing them" and providing he can find stories that are "genuinely exciting and scary".
Director Rian Johnson is open to continuing the ‘Knives Out’ series - "as long as Daniel [Craig] still wants to keep doing it".
The 51-year-old filmmaker has helmed the whodunnit franchise that follows Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc since its debut in 2019, and Johnson has revealed he is happy to continue the franchise past the upcoming ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ so long as both the ‘James Bond’ star is happy to keep making them and he can find stories that are "genuinely exciting and scary".
When Collider asked the director whether there would be more ‘Knives Out’ movies, he said: "As long as Daniel still wants to keep doing it and as long as we have an idea that, to us, feels not just like cranking another one out, but feels genuinely exciting and scary like, ‘Oh, wow, could we pull that off?’
"I love the genre. It’s endlessly malleable, and so it holds endless possibilities. But at the same time, I have made three of them in a row. I don’t feel burnt out on it at all, but the next thing I have in my head to write is an original that’s not a mystery at all."
The ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ director added that the mystery genre was "totally different" to others as it "encompasses so many other types of genres".
He said: "It’s a totally different genre. One of the things I love about the mystery genre is that it holds the whodunit. Like sci-fi, it encompasses so many other types of genres."
Looking to the next ‘Knives Out’ film ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, Johnson teased the upcoming whodunnit would be "so different" from its 2022 predecessor ‘Glass Onion’.
He said: "‘Wake Up Dead Man’, this next movie, is so different from, ‘Glass Onion’. It’s like night and day. And so, as long as we keep doing that, it’s exciting."
‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ - which stars Craig, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Cailee Spaeny, Glenn Close and Andrew Scott - will follow Benoit Blanc as he tries to solve his most dangerous case yet.
While little is known about the new characters set to be introduced in ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, Brolin previously revealed he would be portraying a priest in the Netflix film.
The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ star told Total Film magazine: "I’m playing a priest. My wife reminded me … She said, ‘Do you remember a year ago you said that you wanted to play a priest? It's like you manifest this s***.’"
Reflecting on the movie, Brolin heaped praise onto his "new favourite director" Johnson and labelled ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ as "one of the greatest experiences [he’s] ever had".
The ‘Dune’ actor gushed: "Rian is probably my new favourite director. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. Incredible cast."
