Knives Out Posed An Unusual Challenge For Director Rian Johnson After Star Wars

Anyone who's listened to the popular film-centric podcast "Blank Check" should be familiar with that title phrase. A visionary storyteller establishes a solid body of work, builds up enough cred to make their most ambitious passion projects, and then cashes in that check to the tune of even more success — ideally so they can repeat that cycle all over again. After spending his earlier years delivering gems such as "Brick," "The Brothers Bloom," and ultimately the sci-fi thriller "Looper" (along with directing episodes of "Breaking Bad" and "Terriers" in between), Rian Johnson found himself on a similar track when he ended up in charge of "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi."

After that film's billion-dollar success and with plenty of critical acclaim on his hands (yes, weirdos, "The Last Jedi" is very much considered a success despite its divisive reception), Johnson decided to make another bold pivot. Rather than remain in the sandbox of big-budget IP, he went and created his own franchise with "Knives Out" in 2019. The murder-mystery film starring Daniel Craig as the quirky, Kentucky-fried detective Benoit Blanc instantly proved to be a wise investment, leading to its sequel "Glass Onion" in 2022 and ultimately this year's "Wake Up Dead Man." But, according to Johnson, the path he took to get to this point raised more than a few eyebrows.

In a recent podcast appearance, Johnson opened up about the unusual challenge posed by the first "Knives Out" movie. Not only was the murder-mystery genre considered something of a risk at the time, but apparently the scope and scale of the story failed to pass the eye test. Going from a galaxy far, far away to a locked-room mystery (set predominantly in one location, mind you) was a risky endeavor.

Man, everyone's a critic these days — from actual critics to studio executives to, as it turns out, even a filmmaker's closest friends. While speaking to journalist Kim Masters on KCRW's "The Business" podcast, Rian Johnson was asked whether he had planned out all three movies in the "Knives Out" trilogy. As he explained, his one-film-at-a-time mindset turned out to be the perfect approach to getting that initial film across the finish line ... even if others couldn't quite see the vision just yet. According to Johnson:

"When we made the first [Knives Out], we just felt like, 'Can we get away with making this one?' I mean, when we pitched it around, [the murder-mystery] was at that time kind of a musty old genre. And when we pitched it, people thought the movie seemed kind of small. And I even had close friends of mine who were kind of surprised — because I was coming right off of 'Star Wars.' And I had even friends who were like, 'Are you sure this is what you want to spend your 'Star Wars' cred on right now?'

But it had been something I'd been kicking around and it was just like, 'Well, let's see if we can get away with one,' you know?"

After the runaway success of "Knives Out" at the box office led to a massive $400 million deal with Netflix to finance and distribute the next two, we'd gently suggest that time proved incredibly kind to Johnson's instincts. While some of us may forever rue his "Star Wars" trilogy that never was, going smaller and more contained post-"The Last Jedi" continues to pay dividends. 

"Wake Up Dead Man" hits Netflix on December 12, 2025.