Josh O’Connor’s Knives Out 3 Sacrifice—and Why His Experience Was Nothing Like Daniel Craig’s
Emmy winner Josh O’Connor traded red-carpet comfort for a trial by fire on Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, pushed at every turn as he joins Daniel Craig’s eccentric Southern sleuth.
Josh O'Connor did not sign up for a cushy movie-star shoot on 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' (aka Knives Out 3). He signed up to be cold, muddy, and repeatedly blasted by rain machines while Daniel Craig somehow stayed bone-dry. Honestly, very on-brand for a Rian Johnson whodunit: stylish detective, drenched chaos around him.
The role: an ex-boxer priest having a very bad (and very wet) day
O'Connor, the Emmy winner you likely know from The Crown, plays Rev. Jud Duplenticy, a former boxer turned priest who spends a lot of this movie sprinting through forests and wrestling with doubt. The production leaned hard into the weather for those sequences. Not a scheduling accident. Not bad luck. They cranked the rain machines on purpose to amp the mood.
"It was definitely uncomfortable, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to be part of the Rian Johnson world."
He told Entertainment Weekly the team kept wheeling in those rain rigs like it was a recurring bit. His version of the experience is both funny and a little exasperated:
"The rain machines were absolutely extraordinary. But I felt like I was being punked every day. It was like, 'And then get the rain machine in,' and I'd be like, 'I don't think it was raining in the script.' And they were like, 'No, no, Josh, it's raining.' It always seemed to be raining on me and never on Daniel Craig, which really wound me up."
So yes, Benoit Blanc is out here staying crisp while the priest is sloshing through puddles. It plays as a visual contrast in the film and a mildly diabolical workplace choice on set.
Early days with Craig and Kunis, then the avalanche of movie stars
O'Connor spent his first two weeks mostly with Daniel Craig and Mila Kunis, which gave the trio time to lock in a rhythm before the rest of the cast rolled in. And once they did, it was a flex: Glenn Close shows up, then Josh Brolin, then Kerry Washington. Add Jeremy Renner to the mix. Not exactly a shabby bench.
Quick need-to-know
- Title: 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' (aka Knives Out 3)
- Genre: Mystery
- Director: Rian Johnson
- Cast: Daniel Craig, Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, and others
- Premieres: September 6, 2025 at TIFF
- In theaters (US): November 26, 2025
- Streaming: Netflix on December 12, 2025
- Language: English
- Rotten Tomatoes: 92% critics | 94% audience
The behind-the-scenes image here is kind of perfect: O'Connor trudging through tailor-made thunderstorms while Blanc barely needs a towel. Whether that was fate or just a very committed effects team, it clearly paid off on screen.
'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' is streaming on Netflix in the US. Which performance stole it for you?