Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has finally premiered on the 2025 movie schedule and is now available with a Netflix subscription, and with it, fans of the murder mystery genre have a new adventure to go on with Benoit Blanc. Rian Johnson is clearly loving making these movies, as he’s made three in a row, and talks of a fourth have already begun. Having said that, if you have an idea for a Knives Out Mystery, don’t bother pitching it to him.
Appearing on the Awards Radar podcast, Rian Johnson confirms that, yes, people offer him ideas for future mysteries all the time, but he’ll never take one. It’s not that he thinks every idea is terrible, but he’s not going to write any idea for a film that isn’t his own. He would still love to see these good ideas become movies, however, so he has a suggestion for everybody who pitches him. He said...
Sometimes they’re great ideas, but like any movie I write, I feel like it’s gotta start with something I’m thinking. ‘You should write that movie,’ that’s always my answer.
As answers go, it’s not a bad one. If Rian Johnson is only ever going to do a Benoit Blanc mystery that is his idea, if anybody else has a great idea for a murder mystery, they should write it themselves. They’ll probably need to change their detective character enough to be sure he’s legally distinct from the one Daniel Craig plays, though.
Honestly, there are so many great murder mystery films, and so many different ways to do them, that it would be an easy genre to simply create a new story in. While Rian Johnson's movies often twist murder mystery tropes, his films also use those time-honored traditions. So, if somebody had an idea that started as a Knives Out concept, transforming it into something new would be fairly easy.
Rian Johnson has addressed at least one other idea for a Knives Out movie that wasn’t his. The popular suggestion that Daniel Craig should star in a movie among a cast of Muppets has been popular for years. While Johnson admitted the idea had merit, he suggested it would be difficult to make work, as it would require some Muppets to be murdered and others to be murderers, which is a fair point. Fans will need to make due with the recent Sesame Street parody to get their Muppet/Knives Out fix.
Rian Johnson has indicated that discussions of a fourth Knives Out film in the series have begun, though there is no “development” happening on the idea yet. It certainly sounds like Johnson is up for making another movie in this series. It will all come down to whether or not he gets excited enough by an idea he has, because your great idea won’t make the next movie happen. If you want to see your great idea on screen, you’ll have to do it yourself.
