Knives Out Director Clarifies Jeremy Renner Casting Conundrum

Production has begun on the third Knives Out film from director Rian Johnson which stars Daniel Craig in the titular role of detective Benoit Blanc. Though plot details remain locked up tight, a brief teaser promises this will be the deadliest case yet. In Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, fans may recall a hot sauce brand with Jeremy Renner’s face on it playing a key role in the movie. Though Renner himself didn’t make an appearance, Johnson has welcomed him in for the third installment, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

In the past two Knives Out films, Johnson hasn’t been afraid to sneak Easter eggs and references into his films But for those left wondering whether or not Renner’s hot sauce tease will play a role with his character in the next film, Johnson has given a less than hopeful answer.

“Jeremy’s a great actor who I’ve wanted to work with for a long time,” Johnson told Netflix Tudum. “I was very relieved he thought the hot sauce thing was funny! He’s playing a proper part in this one, we’ll keep the sauce off-screen. Maybe we’ll sneak a few bottles onto the catering table.”

What is Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery About?

Plot details remain locked up tight for the time being but a brief teaser has promised that this will be the deadliest case yet. In Knives Out released in 2019, Johnson reinvented the whodunit genre as audiences were introduced to an unconventional family — the Drysdales and Thrombeys. When Harlan Thrombey, a wealthy mystery fiction author turns up dead in his own home, the family begins turning on each other and Blanc is called in to help solve the mystery. When Craig returned for Glass Onion with a whole new group of people, Johnson put a completely new twist on the franchise. Instead of bringing in Blanc to solve a case, he is now a bystander in the very meta “murder within a murder” style film.

Knives Out kicked off an incredibly successful franchise which has amassed a combined 327,900,000 million dollars at the box office. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery had a hybrid release of select theater dates as well as a Netflix release. In its first week on Netflix, Nielsen reported over two billion minutes streamed on the service, making it the one of the most streamed Netflix films ever.

Like all Knives Out films, the dinner party for this case includes a star-studded cast of actors and actresses like Josh O’Connor who is fresh off Challengers with Zendaya, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, All Of Us Strangers star Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny who starred opposite Jacob Elordi in Priscilla, as well as Glenn Close, Daryl McCormack and Thomas Haden Church. 

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is set to hit theaters sometime in 2025.