Knives Out 3 Finale Explained: Who Dies, Who Survives, And Who Did It

So, yes, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery goes full gothic with church politics, a buried diamond, and a fake resurrection. Benoit Blanc strolls into a very pious small town and starts pulling on threads until the whole place unravels. If you want the who-died-how-and-why of it all, here is the clean, spoiler-heavy rundown.

The setup

Monsignor Jefferson Wicks thinks he has uncovered the location of a priceless diamond hidden in his family crypt. That puts him on a collision course with Martha Delacroix, the long-time keeper of that secret, who is convinced he will exploit it. She recruits Dr. Nat Sharp to make sure Wicks never gets the chance. From there, everything spirals into murder, betrayal, and one very messy cover-up.

Who dies (and what really happened)

• Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (present day): Drugged by Martha Delacroix via his flask; fatally stabbed by Dr. Nat Sharp using a concealed blade.
• Samson Holt (present day): Hired to impersonate Wicks in a staged resurrection to retrieve the diamond; killed by Dr. Nat Sharp so Sharp could steal the diamond himself.
• Dr. Nat Sharp (present day): Poisoned by Martha Delacroix with the same drug he had prepared for her; his body is then destroyed in acid.
• Martha Delacroix (present day): Takes a deliberate fatal overdose of the drug after confessing her actions and praying for forgiveness to Reverend Jud Duplenticy.
• Grace Wicks (past): Jefferson Wicks’s mother; her death is part of the family history that hangs over the town.
• Prentice Wicks (past): Jefferson’s grandfather; the diamond is hidden in his tomb, which sets the whole plot in motion.
• Unnamed man (past): Killed by Reverend Jud Duplenticy back when he boxed; a long-buried incident that factors into the town’s secrets.

How the scheme worked

Martha Delacroix had one priority: keep the diamond from landing in the wrong hands and protect Wicks’s saintly public image, even if that meant orchestrating his death. After Wicks pinned down where the diamond was hidden (in Prentice Wicks’s tomb), Martha dosed his flask. Dr. Nat Sharp then delivered the fatal stab with a hidden knife. To keep the miracle narrative alive and quietly recover the gem, they arranged for Samson Holt to pretend to be a resurrected Wicks and pull off the retrieval.

Sharp, smelling a bigger payday, cut the others out by murdering Samson and trying to make off with the diamond. Martha was a step ahead: she turned Sharp’s own poison on him and disposed of his body in acid. Later, wracked by guilt and done playing chess with souls, she confessed everything to Reverend Jud Duplenticy and took a lethal dose herself.

So who is the killer, and why?

Technically, Dr. Nat Sharp is the one who stabbed Jefferson Wicks, but he did it at Martha Delacroix’s direction. The motive across the board was control of the diamond and control of the narrative: keep a corrupt prize from corrupt people and keep Wicks looking untouchable. That noble veneer dissolves fast once the bodies stack up, but that is the twisted logic that drove every move.

In short: a secret diamond in grandpa’s tomb, a drugged monsignor, a faked resurrection, a double-cross, a body in acid, and a final confession — all orbiting a town that looks holy until you turn on the lights.