Rian Johnson's Knives Out franchise is a delightful whodunit series, which occupies both theater sand the small screen for those with a Netflix subscription. The property is an anthology series, with a new cast of characters used every chapter, although they all feature Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc. And the filmmaker recently spoke to CinemaBlend about why so little of the detective's backstory is brought to the films.
Aside from Joseph Gordon-Levitt's voice cameos, Craig's Blanc has been the only consistent part of the Knives Out series. While Glass Onion revealed his relationship with Hugh Grant's Phillip, the movies don't really focus on Benoit's personal life. As you can see above, Johnson spoke to CinemaBlend ahead of Wake Up Dead Man's release in theaters. And when asked about the backstory and if that fictional couple was still together, he shared:
It can, I hope they're all right. I love those two together. I kind of have a real perspective on how, I mean for me, I feel that Benoit Blanc will always be the detective in these murder mystery movies. And that means I want to learn more about him through him solving these cases. And that usually means him forming a relationship with the protagonist.
Points were made. While fans might be curious to know more about Blanc, that's ultimately not what the Knives Out movies are about. Instead, his backstory is only revealed when it's relevant to his investigations... usually while connecting with the leading characters who need his help.
For Wake Up Dead Man, he doesn't share all that much, but Blanc's comments about religion seem to hint at some pain related to faith. And since he's a gay man, I have to assume that's part of this story. Later in the same interview, Johnson spoke more about what motivates Daniel Craig's character to share, saying:
You know, Josh O'Connor's character in this one, Janelle's character in the last one and Ana de Armas in the previous. So it's relationship-based, but it's very much him being the detective solving this case.
This offers a peek behind the curtain on Rian Johnson's creative process for the mystery franchise. While the filmmaker revealed that he can't write Knives Out in advance due to their connection with current events, he's also only peeling back Benoit Blanc's layers when the story (and new protagonists) call for it.
In the same interview, Johnson affirmed that we shouldn't expect the detective's backstory to be fully explored in future installments. As he put it:
I never can imagine going on like a little side street to learn more about him or doing a flashback or something. I think ultimately these are murder mysteries, and we want to see him show up and solve them.
Clearly he's got a method to his madness, so why mess with that now? Wake Up Dead Man is the third installment of the successful series, and Rian Johnson isn't planning on ending things with a trilogy. CinemaBlend's Knives Out 3 review praised the new movie, while also highlighting how unique (and less fun) it is compared to the previous two installments.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, and will arrive on Netflix on December 12th. We'll just have to wait and see what Johnson plans for the fourth movie, and what we learn about Daniel Craig's character in the process.
