Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Release Date Announced by Netflix

The upcoming whodunnit Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery no longer has a mystery for a wide release date. 

As confirmed by Variety, Wake Up Dead Man will see a limited theatrical release on Wednesday, November 26, before arriving on Netflix on Friday, December 12. 

Netflix released the first teaser for Wake Up Dead Man back in May. The streamer shared a new poster for the movie, as seen below:

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Wake Up Dead Man is the third film starring detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). It follows 2019’s Knives Out and 2022’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

Each film follows Blanc investigating an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit murder mystery with a new ensemble of suspects.

Knives Out was set in Massachusetts and saw Blanc investigate the family of murdered mystery author Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). Glass Onion saw Blanc head to a Greek island retreat with the inner circle of tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton).

Wake Up Dead Man will center around a church in an upstate New York village. Craig is back as Blanc. The cast, this time, includes Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Josh O’Connor, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.

The synopsis for Wake Up Dead Man reads as follows:

“Benoit Blanc (Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus. When young priest Jud Duplenticy (O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews.

Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven (Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Spaeny).

After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.”

Johnson described Wake Up Dead Man as “gothic” to Netflix’s Tudum and called the movie “[Blanc’s] most personal journey yet.” He indicated the film will explore themes of “guilt, mystery, morality, and fallible humanity,” complemented by the church setting.

“It’s more similar to the first Knives Out in that it gets back to the real origins of the genre, which predate Agatha Christie, going back to Edgar Allan Poe,” Johnson continued.

Wake Up Dead Man‘s producers include Johnson’s producing partner Ram Bergman, as well as Katie McNeill. Johnson’s usual cinematographer, Steve Yedlin, editor Bob Ducsay, and composer Nathan Johnson are all on board in their usual roles.

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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Story premieres on Netflix on Friday, December 12.

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