Max Surprenant

Actor Daniel Craig played the detective, Benoit Blanc, in all three of the “Knives Out” movies.

In late 2025, American filmmaker Rian Johnson released the third movie in his Knives Out series, “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”. The movie follows crimes committed in and around a church as the notorious detective Benoit Blanc, who’s played by Daniel Craig, attempts to solve the complex whodunit-style mystery. 

The movie has an undeniably talented cast and is clearly connected, but it’s also separate from the other two Knives Out movies. The movie received a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, a one percent difference from Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”, his second Knives Out movie. Yet, in the first weeks of its Netflix release, “Wake Up Dead Man” underperformed the other Knives Out movies. This movie shouldn’t have underperformed “Glass Onion”. 

This article contains spoilers for “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”

Aside from a bold change to Blanc’s hairstyle, a key difference I noticed between “Wake Up Dead Man” and the two movies that predate it was the implementation of an assistant detective. Jud is the newly introduced assistant priest to the outspoken and disagreeable Monsignor Wicks. Jud also plays an additional role in helping Blanc solve the series of murders. Before a crime has even been committed, Jud explains the characters that ingrain this small community as if they were each a suspect. I thought this aspect might deter people from the movie because Jud’s work detracts from Benoit Blanc’s compelling character. However, personally, I felt this movie needed Jud. It must differentiate itself from the other Knives Out movies, and this new character changes just enough to keep it interesting.

“Wake Up Dead Man” has more story depth than “Glass Onion”. Every character in the story has strong motives and connections. Whereas in “Glass Onion”, the movie seems to be more of a comedy than an actual murder mystery. I find it much easier to engulf myself in the little town of Chimeny Rock, where the story is set. Despite these opinions being shared across critics, only two weeks into its debut, “Wake Up Dead Man” had half as many cumulative views as “Glass Onion”. This trend continued into later weeks.

“Glass Onion” had 89.1 million views within two weeks, while “Wake Up Dead Man” only had 41.1 million views. This difference is huge. However, I believe that “Wake Up Dead Man” was still way better than “Glass Onion” because it had a more aggressive plot. Also, the diversity in scene lighting adds a lot to the story. In one scene, when Jud thinks he has killed the groundskeeper, the lighting flashes. The aggressive flashes and choppy framerate make you question if it really happened. Throughout the movies, a mixture of lighting and contrast techniques mimics the oxymoronic plot theme of a murder in a church.

Overall, “Wake Up Dead Man” did not underperform “Glass Onion” because it didn’t live up to the Knives Out name. Rather, it avoided the shallow, comical spectacle that was expected and told a deeper story. This attack on viewers’ expectations sets a new precedent for future Knives Out stories to expand the franchise’s often-repeated storyline. Despite the lower viewership numbers, it was a necessary step in the right direction for the franchise.