‘Knives Out’ director Rian Johnson says fourth movie still ‘really pretty vague’

The Rian Johnson-directed Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery dropped on Netflix December 12, and now the man at the mystery franchise’s helm is opening up about its potential future.

During a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Johnson shared that he is currently going over “vague” ideas for a fourth Knives Out film.

“I have some basic, elemental, conceptual ideas. Like, ‘Okay, it’d be interesting if it were this kind of thing’ kernels,” he said.

“I don’t have actual concrete ideas. I don’t have a theme yet. I don’t have a location,” added the writer-director. “It’s really pretty vague, and I feel like it’s good to kinda keep it vague until I’m ready to actually sit down and write it.”

He also asserted that the films in his sleuth series are products of “the present moment”, which is why he believes that their production should not be rushed.

“Part of making these movies, for me, is reacting to the present moment, not necessarily with current events or politics or culture specifically, but in terms of what we’re all feeling in the world at that moment,” Johnson shared. “I like that these movies are not timeless, per se, and that they all have one foot in something that is common to all of us in our present moment. So, yeah, I don’t know. I have a vague notion, but trying to keep it vague until it’s time to actually do it.”

Rian Johnson brought back Daniel Craig as the famously Southern private eye Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third release in the series since 2019, which also stars a new ensemble cast featuring Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, and more.