Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films have always featured some form of social commentary. The first film uses the death of a wealthy novelist, who has been estranged from his toxic and privileged family, to critique the selfish nature of the ultra-rich. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery adds another layer of commentary on the entitled 1%, especially those in power who rely heavily on sycophantic enablers. It also touches on toxic masculinity and the superficial nature and facade of wealth from online personalities.
In the third installment, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is on the case to solve the murder of a cult-like priest, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Blanc teams up with a young priest, Father Judd (Josh O’Connor), to solve the mysterious death in which everyone is a suspect.
Johnson, who grew up Christian but no longer practices or follows the religion, has always had complicated feelings towards Christianity and how it is used in the current political climate. He recalls the first film being made after Trump’s 2016 election, which inspired the film’s political conversation.
“For this movie, it was very much about engaging with Christianity and faith’s place in culture and politics in the present moment in 2025, but also engaging with faith in the personal sense,” Johnson tells The Nerds of Color over Zoom. “That’s an important part of it. This is where a lot of work went into the script.”
It was important to Johnson that the film didn’t “pick a side” or “tiptoe” around the subject to offend anyone or convey a lesson or message that was “didactic to the audience.” Instead, he hopes the film will “engage with all these questions with a point of view to it” and prompt people to talk about it.
Actress Cailee Spaeny, who plays one of Wicks’ followers, Simone, appreciated Johnson’s approach to the story, one that doesn’t consist of “finger-wagging.”
‘The way that Rian approached something so complicated was looking inward and at his own experience,” she describes. “You can see him working out this very complicated subject through the characters’ dialogue.
“I grew up in the church and had a very similar experience as Rian did,” says Spaeny. “It was an interesting experience getting to interrogate that part of my life, which is complicated and nuanced. It definitely has broader themes that reflect where we are in the world. The best way to do that is how Rian went about it – starting with himself.”
The film’s saving grace – aside from Blanc – is O’Connor’s character, Judd. A former boxer-turned-priest, Judd found God, devoting his life to the Catholic faith, and represents the good of Christianity.
“So Judd started, at least the seed of it, for me, putting all my positive feelings about faith, Christianity, and what Christ actually taught,” Johnson explains. “To have a character who – it’s not like he embodies those because then he’d be perfect and that’s boring – truly wants to do his best to bring those things into the world. That was kind of the starting point for Judd.”
O’Connor, who is of English and Irish heritage, grew up Irish Catholic and was around many different priests, and saw how drastically interpretations of the gospel varied. He recalls one priest, like in the film, who was God-fearing, angry, and judgmental, but then, there would be another priest who was all about a loving God and forgiveness. All of which came from the same text (the bible).
“It’s kind of extraordinary,” O’Connor shares. “So I think Judd just represents the other side of that [the positive side].”
Then there is the police chief, Officer Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis), who is solely focused on the case and has no religious affiliation. Her job is to solve what happened to Wicks. Kunis says Officer Scott represents the everyday pragmatic person who believes in “the logic of solving a mystery.” Though it is insinuated that the character is Jewish (“with her ‘Oy Vey’,” she says), she still doesn’t believe that faith plays a part in the crime.
“It’s not like I believe I’ll solve it,” says Kunis. “It’s more of what are the facts to solve it? That’s where I think my lane is. Let’s find the solution to the problem – the logical way, not the mystical way.”
The character of Simone has given most of her wealth to Wicks, believing that his faith will heal her of an unknown body pain. She has become so desperate to find a cure that she ignores all logic.
“Simone is ‘one foot in and one foot out’ and fighting logic,” says Spaeny. “[She also] is finding the unknown and wanting to believe in something and try to find a quick fix [to her problems]. I really understood that.”
Though the internal conflicts within the characters and what they symbolize were fascinating to watch, the film’s biggest draw was solving the mystery behind it all – who killed Wicks? Why?
Although the cast were given the entire script to learn who and what happened, some didn’t understand it, but they trusted the process. They trust Rian.
“When I read it for the first time, I did not 100% understand a certain plot twist,” Mila admits. “I went, ‘Wait, I don’t get it. So I had to go back and reread it. I’m not going to lie, I think I understood 60% of it. I was like, I don’t need to understand it because Rian understands it – and that’s what matters the most.”
It wasn’t until the day Kunis shot the scenes that those twists and turns made sense. For Spaeny, it was when they watched it for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“I was like, ‘Oh! That’s how!” Spaeny chuckles.
Kunis praised Johnson’s thought process, “Rian’s writing is so dense in a wonderful way, and so specific. It makes so much sense to him.”
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will have a limited theatrical release on November 26, followed by a Netflix release on December 12.
