Popular Mystery

Wake Up Dead Man Release Date

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery was released on Netflix on December 12, 2025.

Wake Up Dead Man Director

Rian Johnson is the writer, director, and producer of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

The Mystery

It’s Good Friday at Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, a tiny Catholic church in upstate New York. Monsignor Jefferson Wicks is leading the service, doing his usual fire-and-brimstone routine in front of the handful of people who still show up. Father Jud Duplenticy, the new priest who just got assigned there, is assisting him.

During the service, Wicks collapses. When they check on him, he has been stabbed. The wild part is that it happened in front of everyone, but nobody saw anything. The church is small, there aren’t many people there, and yet somehow this guy got murdered in plain sight. It’s a proper locked-room mystery where the “how” is just as important as the “who.”

Turns out Reverend Prentice Wicks, the monsignor’s grandfather, supposedly left behind a massive fortune before he died. Nobody knows where the money went. Some people think it’s hidden somewhere in the church or the overgrown graveyard. Others think it never existed at all. Either way, there are plenty of people who could use that cash, which means the murder might not just be about revenge or anger. It could be about greed too.

The Investigation

All eyes immediately turn to Father Jud because he’s the new guy, he was right there next to Wicks, and oh yeah, he’s got a history of violence. Before becoming a priest, Jud was a boxer who accidentally killed someone in the ring. He turned to religion to deal with the guilt, but now everyone’s wondering if he snapped and killed again. The local police chief knows this is way over her head, so she calls in Benoit Blanc to figure out what actually happened.

The mystery gets messier the deeper Blanc digs. Almost everyone in that congregation had a reason to want Wicks dead. The guy was hateful, hypocritical, and made a lot of enemies. The challenge isn’t finding someone with motive, it’s figuring out who actually had the opportunity and how they pulled off an impossible crime.

Benoit Blanc

Daniel Craig

The fancy detective is back for round three. Blanc gets called in by the local police chief to solve an impossible murder at a tiny church in upstate New York. This time he’s got a different energy going on, complete with longer hair that makes him look like he just rolled out of a college philosophy class. He teams up with the main suspect to crack the case, which is a pretty wild move.

Craig still brings that effortless cool vibe, though honestly he’s kind of playing second fiddle to some of the other characters this time around. His best moments are when he’s bouncing off Josh O’Connor and trying to balance logic with all the faith stuff happening around him.

Monsignor Jefferson Wicks

Josh Brolin

Wicks is the victim, and honestly, good riddance. This guy is a fire-and-brimstone preacher who runs his church like a dictator. He’s got a hateful gospel that’s driven away most of the congregation, leaving only his most loyal (or most desperate) followers.

Brolin plays him as completely unhinged, which is perfect because Wicks is genuinely one of the worst people you’ll meet in this franchise. He’s a massive hypocrite who’s got secrets all over the place, including an illegitimate son he refused to acknowledge. The movie makes it pretty clear that a lot of people had reasons to want him dead.

Chief Geraldine Scott

Mila Kunis

Geraldine is the local police chief who calls in Blanc when the murder happens. She knows this case is way above her pay grade and needs someone who can handle locked-room mysteries.

Kunis is fine in the role but doesn’t get a ton to do. She’s basically there to bring Blanc into the story and then steps back to let him work. Nothing wrong with her performance, it’s just not a role that lets her show off much.

Father Jud Duplenticy

Josh O’Connor

This guy is basically the heart of the movie. Jud is a young priest with a rough past who used to be a boxer. He accidentally killed someone during a fight, which sent him spiraling into religion as a way to deal with the guilt. His bishop sends him to this small church to assist the awful Monsignor Wicks, but then Wicks gets murdered and everyone thinks Jud did it.

O’Connor absolutely carries the movie with this performance. He’s wrestling with violence, faith, anger, and trying to actually be a good person while everyone around him is a mess. The whole film is basically about whether someone who’s done terrible things can genuinely change, and Jud is living proof that redemption is messy and complicated.

Martha Delacroix

Glenn Close

Martha is the church lady to end all church ladies. She’s devoted to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude and basically runs the whole place. Everyone in town respects her because she’s been there forever and keeps everything functioning.

Glenn Close plays her with this mysterious energy where you’re never quite sure what she’s thinking. There’s way more going on beneath the surface than just a sweet old lady who loves Jesus. She’s also in a secret relationship with the groundskeeper, which adds another layer to her character. Close is clearly having fun with this role and brings real depth to someone who could have been a one-note character.

Samson Holt

Thomas Haden Church

Samson is the church groundskeeper who’s been there forever. He’s a quiet, salt-of-the-earth guy who wanders around the overgrown graveyard with a scythe like he walked out of a gothic novel. He’s also Martha’s secret lover, which is one of the film’s more surprising relationships.

Church plays him as mysterious and circumspect, someone who knows way more than he’s letting on. The character doesn’t get a ton of dialogue but his presence adds to the overall creepy atmosphere of the church.

Vera Draven

Kerry Washington

Vera is a lawyer who had big dreams after law school but ended up taking over her dad’s small-town practice instead. She’s wound tighter than a drum and smokes constantly to deal with the stress.

Washington makes every cigarette tell a story, whether Vera’s frustrated, bored, exhausted, or satisfied. The character goes through a real transformation when she finds out some truths about the people she’s been loyal to. She’s also Cy’s adoptive mother, which complicates everything when it turns out Cy is actually Wicks’s biological son.

Cy Draven

Daryl McCormack

Cy is a failed politician and right-wing media influencer who’s trying desperately to claw his way back to relevance. He thought he was Vera’s dad’s illegitimate kid, but it turns out he’s actually Monsignor Wicks’s son. Cy doesn’t believe in anything except his own ambition. He sees Wicks as a ticket back into politics and is willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

McCormack plays him as this hungry shark who needs a father figure and a place to belong. He’s constantly recording everything on his phone like a wannabe political vlogger. By the end he’s still chasing the missing fortune instead of accepting any kind of spiritual inheritance.

Dr. Nat Sharp

Jeremy Renner

Nat is a local doctor with serious anger issues after his marriage fell apart. He gets accused of killing Wicks at one point, which makes sense because he’s clearly got some rage problems.

Renner brings this grizzled, mopey energy to the character. The movie does a clever thing with his casting because you expect him to be more important than he actually is. He spends most of his screen time being miserable and suspicious, which is honestly kind of the vibe for a lot of these characters.

Lee Ross

Andrew Scott

Lee is a formerly famous sci-fi author who’s been hiding out in this tiny town after his career tanked. He used to be a big deal, like the next George R.R. Martin, but now he’s just an angry guy posting on social media trying to get back on the bestseller lists.

Andrew Scott is perfect in this role, playing Lee as desperate and bitter. A lot of the comedy comes from the ridiculous stuff around his character, like his pretentious books and the literal moat around his property. He’s lost his creative edge and thinks he can find it again by isolating himself, which obviously isn’t working.

Simone Vivane

Cailee Spaeny

Simone used to be a concert cellist before chronic pain ended her career. Now she’s at the church hoping for a miracle cure, which shows how desperate she is.

Spaeny is a rising star who’s done amazing work in other films, so this feels like kind of an underwhelming role for her at this point in her career. She’s decent in the part but doesn’t get enough screen time to really make an impact. By the end of the movie she’s playing cello again, not because she’s cured but because she’s learned to work through the pain.

Grace Wicks

Annie Hamilton

Grace is Monsignor Wicks’s mother, and the town has branded her the “harlot whore” because she had him out of wedlock. Her father, Reverend Prentice Wicks, forced her to stay at the church with the promise that she’d inherit the family fortune, but when he died the money was nowhere to be found.

In a rage, Grace destroyed the church’s crucifix and assaulted Martha before dying at the door to Prentice’s mausoleum. She’s a tragic figure whose story shows how the church’s hypocrisy destroyed her life.

Reviews

Movie Review

Review: 7.5 / 10

Wake Up Dead Man is darker than the previous films. Rian Johnson really went for it with themes about faith, anger, and forgiveness mixed into the mystery. The locked-room puzzle is clever, though honestly it might be too complicated to figure out yourself.

Josh O’Connor absolutely carries this movie as Father Jud. He’s dealing with his own violent past while trying to preach compassion, and it’s genuinely compelling to watch. The whole cast is fantastic (Glenn Close is giving mysterious vibes, Josh Brolin is completely unhinged), and the cinematography makes a cold New York church look stunning.

It’s still got that Knives Out humour, but the story seems more serious this time. Maybe not as breezy as the first one, but it’ll give you more to chew on.

Story Review

The story takes a big swing by mixing a murder mystery with serious religious themes. Rian Johnson isn’t just using the church as a cool backdrop. He’s actually exploring questions about faith, forgiveness, violence, and redemption through the whole thing.

The plot follows Father Jud, who’s dealing with his past as a boxer who accidentally killed someone, and now he’s the main suspect in another murder. It’s darker than the previous Knives Out films because it’s asking whether people who’ve done terrible things can actually change.

The religious angle might not be for everyone, especially if you’re just here for a fun whodunit, but it gives the story more weight. Some parts drag a bit when the philosophical stuff gets too heavy, but overall the narrative has a clear purpose beyond just solving the crime.

Mystery Review

The locked-room mystery at the center of this is genuinely clever, even if it’s maybe too complicated for its own good. A monsignor gets stabbed during a Good Friday service, and the setup makes it seem impossible for anyone to have done it. Blanc has to figure out not just who did it but how they pulled it off.

The problem is there are so many moving parts that you probably won’t solve it yourself unless you pause the movie and take notes. Earlier Knives Out films had mysteries you could reasonably crack if you paid attention, but this one feels more like you’re along for the ride.

There’s also a missing fortune subplot that ties into the main mystery, which adds another layer but also makes everything more convoluted. If you love impossible crimes and don’t mind complexity, you’ll probably dig it. If you want something cleaner, this might frustrate you.

Acting Review

Josh O’Connor is the MVP here and honestly carries the entire movie. He brings real depth to Father Jud and makes you believe in this guy’s struggle between his violent impulses and his desire to be good.

Daniel Craig is solid as always, though he’s playing more of a supporting role this time and seems content to let O’Connor shine. Glenn Close is deliciously mysterious and makes you constantly wonder what she’s hiding.

Andrew Scott nails the bitter failed author vibe, and Daryl McCormack is perfectly slimy as the opportunistic Cy. Josh Brolin goes full unhinged as the victim and clearly had fun being the worst. The weaker links are the actors who just don’t get enough material to work with, like Kunis and Spaeny, but that’s a script issue more than a performance problem.

Production Review

The movie looks gorgeous despite being set mostly in a cold, rundown church in upstate New York. The cinematography makes the location feel both beautiful and oppressive, which fits the themes perfectly. There’s this gothic atmosphere with the overgrown graveyard and the mysterious mausoleum.

The costume design is on point too, from Blanc’s new professorial look to the various character styles that tell you everything about who they are. The production value is definitely a step up from Glass Onion in terms of visual storytelling.

Ending Review

The ending is ambitious but might leave you divided depending on what you wanted from the movie. Johnson wraps up the mystery and explains how the impossible murder happened, but he’s more interested in the spiritual and emotional resolution than just revealing the killer. There’s a focus on whether Jud can find peace and whether any of these broken people can actually be redeemed.

Some viewers will appreciate the thoughtful approach and the way it ties back to the film’s themes about forgiveness and change. Others might feel unsatisfied because it’s not as punchy or crowd-pleasing as the endings in the previous films. There’s also the missing fortune subplot that gets resolved, but honestly by that point you’re so deep in the character stuff that the money feels secondary.

It’s definitely the most serious ending in the franchise, which works for this particular story but might not give you that same “hell yeah” feeling you got from Knives Out or Glass Onion.

Knives Out

Knives Out is an American mystery movie. A rich old man dies, and his entire messy family immediately starts acting suspicious.

The movie kicks off with a sudden death inside a giant mansion, and suddenly everyone is side-eyeing everyone else. Was it natural causes? Was it foul play? Is somebody about to lose their inheritance and spiral? The vibes are tense. Family dinners must have been absolute warfare long before this tragedy.

Then in walks a detective with a Southern accent and a brain that never stops working. He starts interviewing each relative, and wow, these people are shady. Everyone has secrets. Everyone has motives. Everyone swears they are innocent.

Glass Onion

Glass Onion is an American mystery movie. The story drops us into a murder mystery weekend on a private Greek island, where tech billionaire Miles Bron has invited his closest friends for an elaborate game.

The crew includes his former business partner, Andi Brand, a scientist named Lionel, a fashion designer called Birdie, a men’s rights streamer guy named Duke, plus their various plus-ones. Oh, and detective Benoit Blanc shows up too, because apparently, even he got an invitation.

Miles has planned this whole intricate mystery for everyone to solve. Naturally, things go sideways when someone actually turns up dead. What starts as a party game becomes a real investigation. Blanc has to figure out who’s behind it all. But the biggest challenge? Navigating the egos and secrets of this extremely wealthy, extremely messy friend group.