Knives Out 3 Star Hails Disney Plus Hit Only Murders in the Building, Reveals Why Cozy Crime Is Taking Over
Exclusive: Wake Up Dead Man star Andrew Scott makes the case for going big in a whodunit—stack the cast, multiply the suspects, and the twists and chemistry hit harder.
If you like your murder mysteries with a grin instead of a grimace, Hollywood is very aware. The comfy-killer wave keeps rolling, and next up to feed the habit is the third Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man.
The cozy-crime boom, explained fast
Between ABC's High Potential, Netflix's adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club, and Only Murders in the Building refusing to slow down, audiences are clearly into crime stories that let you laugh while someone hides a body. Wake Up Dead Man is aiming squarely at that sweet spot.
Andrew Scott on why this blend works
Andrew Scott, who shows up here as a sardonic sci-fi writer named Lee Ross, put it simply in a recent chat about the genre's moment. He says the heavy, straight-faced whodunits are still around, but the current appetite is the mix of tones: comedy and murder, side by side. Only Murders is his go-to example, thanks to two of the best comedians alive paired with Selena Gomez and Meryl Streep. Big ensembles mean you can bounce between light and dark without whiplash. In this movie, he says his character skews lighter while other players go deep and bruised, which is kind of the point.
That mixture of comedy and murder, I think.
So what is Blanc up against this time?
Daniel Craig is back as Benoit Blanc, and the case is being billed as his most complicated yet, set in upstate New York and leaning more personal and reflective than the first two. The core dilemma: Josh O'Connor plays a former boxer who became a priest, and he teams with Blanc to clear his name after his hulking new boss, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), winds up dead. The snag, as the trailer flat-out points out: O'Connor's character was the only person on stage with Wicks when it happened. Not great optics.
The ensemble is stacked the way these movies like to be. Alongside Craig, Scott, O'Connor, and Brolin, you've also got Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, and Glenn Close. Plenty of personalities to juggle, which is exactly where the tonal fun tends to come from.
- Title: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
- Setting: Upstate New York
- Premise: Blanc helps a boxer-turned-priest prove he did not kill his fearsome new boss, despite being the only one on stage when the man died
- Cast highlights: Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc), Andrew Scott (Lee Ross), Josh O'Connor, Josh Brolin (Monsignor Jefferson Wicks), Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Glenn Close
- Release: In theaters November 26; on Netflix worldwide December 12