The hardest mystery in any Knives Out movie isn’t whodunnit, according to a common joke in Hollywood. Anyone can be cast in one in this way. Rian Johnson’s franchise has reportedly become the rare project where A-list actors lobby their agents for a spot, rather than the other way around, since Daniel Craig first made his way through that Massachusetts mansion in 2019. It’s difficult to ignore a pattern when you see how the ensembles stack up—Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, and Josh O’Connor all crammed into Wake Up Dead Man alone. These movies are now the most stylish group shots in Hollywood.
Part of the appeal is obvious. The roles are juicy, the shoots are contained, and nobody has to sign a ten-year superhero contract. An actor gets to chew scenery for a few months, trade lines with Craig’s Southern-fried detective, and walk away with a prestige credit. Ana de Armas used her Knives Out performance as a launching pad for her career. That precedent hasn’t gone unnoticed in agency offices, where a Benoit Blanc ensemble slot is now treated as a strategic move, not just a paycheck.
However, it’s possible that the more significant battle is taking place above the actors’ heads. In 2021, Netflix reportedly paid $450 million for two sequels, which was a startling amount at the time and continues to draw criticism. That agreement has been completed. Wake Up Dead Man debuted in a few theaters in late November before going live on streaming services in December. Johnson is not required by contract to remain there. He sounded anything but finished when he spoke on the Academy Museum red carpet, stating that he and Craig were already sketching out what a fourth movie might look like and that he felt creatively energized.
That framing changes the whole chessboard. Craig has publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Netflix’s handling of both sequels’ theatrical runs. Glass Onion only made $13 million from its limited run, which is an odd outcome for a franchise whose first entry made $312 million worldwide through Lionsgate. If Johnson takes the next Blanc mystery to open market, the bidding could get genuinely ugly, in the way studio executives quietly enjoy. Traditional studios hungry for a proven theatrical brand would line up. Since Netflix created the streaming home for the franchise, it would likely fight to retain it. Nobody outside those rooms knows the numbers yet, and that uncertainty is doing half the work of keeping the story alive.
This has a historical resonance that is worth considering. Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, and Lauren Bacall were crammed into train compartments in Murder on the Orient Express (1974) because everyone wanted to join in on the celebration. Agatha Christie adaptations used to work similarly. In essence, Johnson has brought that tradition back to life for the streaming age, and studios have seen the formula yield both financial gain and cultural significance in equal measure. Whodunnits were meant to be deceased. They continue to refuse to be buried.
As befits a franchise based on withheld information, it’s genuinely unclear what will happen next. Johnson also has a two-picture deal at Warner Bros. with producing partner Ram Bergman, plus Poker Face on his plate, so the timeline could stretch. However, there’s a feeling that the demand hasn’t reached its peak, whether it comes from actors, audiences, or whichever distributor writes the largest check. At one point, Craig appeared eager to get away from the allure of a signature character. Before the current case has even completed its rollout, he now seems to be co-plotting the next one. It turns out that there are some mysteries that are better left unsolved.
