'Wake Up Dead Man' Adds 4, Including Kerry Washington And Cailee Spaeny
'Wake Up Dead Man' Adds 4, Including Kerry Washington And Cailee Spaeny
Suspects acquired for the next film in the Daniel Craig-starring 'Knives Out' mystery series
That was fast. Just days after the third Knives Out mystery was revealed to be titled Wake Up Dead Man with the returning A Knives Out Mystery subtitle and Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc, we’re already getting confirmation for three of what is likely a dozen at least for an ensemble of suspects. The Rian Johnson-written and directed murder mystery has cast Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, and breaking as backlinks were being added (well after the thumbnail was created), Kerry Washington.
Plot and character details are unavailable but will likeliest come when they’ve assembled the full ensemble. Johnson did say they were about to head into production (reportedly beginning June 10) so it’s more than possible we’ll quickly get a few bunches, especially with how quickly the Washington news broke over the others. She is best known for her Emmy-winning role as Olivia Pope on the ABC series Scandal, which ran for seven seasons. She currently recurs as Bart’s teacher Ms. Peyton on The Simpsons and stars in her own Hulu series Unprisoned with Delroy Lindo, which is returning for a second season. Washingyon also has her own Netflix film coming up, Six Triple Eight directed by Tyler Perry. She recently wrapped production on Lionsgate action film Shadow Force. O’Connor can currently be seen starring in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers alongside Zendaya, having already been known for his Emmy-winning portrayal of Prince Charles in The Crown. He can next be seen starring in The History of Sound with Paul Mescal. Spaeny was most recently seen as Elvis Presley’s wife Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, and appeared in Alex Garland’s apparent hit Civil War. She will next be seen in the first installment of the Alien franchise since Disney bought 20th Century Studios, Alien: Romulus.
Coming to prominence as Moriarty on the BBC’s Sherlock though appearing in HBO’s 2008 John Adams miniseries beforehand, Scott did appear in Craig’s fourth James Bond film, 2015’s Spectre. It took a second breakout role, the Priest in the second season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Prime Video series Fleabag to truly become sought after, garnering buzz for All of Us Strangers and Netflix’s adaptation of Ripley.
A big-name ensemble has now become typical of Knives Out mysteries, with the first film featuring Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, and Toni Collette, while Glass Onion had Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista. Aiming for a 2025 release, Wake Up Dead Man fulfills the second of Netflix’s two-sequel deal with Johnson worth $450 million. While Knives Out got theatrical distribution by Lionsgate, leading to $312 million at the global box office on a $40 million budget, a Netflix release would usually mean no theatrical treatment at all. But Glass Onion did get one with a lot of caveats. Its limited release was limited at length with a week but also only had AMC, Regal, and Cinemark theaters as exhibitors. It would end up earning $15 million in that week. As for how it performed on its home streamer, it spent seven weeks in top 10s globally, accumulating 301 million hours watched. Over 2023, it ended up watched for 161.5 million hours, amounting to 68.7 million views.
When revealing the film’s title, Johnson tweeted “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.”
Sources: What’s On Netflix, Deadline (Deadline, 2), Variety