Daniel Craig may have left James Bond behind, but he’s not taking his second iconic role for granted. At the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the actor reflected on the joy of playing detective Benoit Blanc again.
“How lucky am I to get to play something like this?” Craig said on the red carpet. “I mean, I’ve played [James] Bond, and now I’m suddenly playing Benoit Blanc. It’s dumb luck. I’m very lucky.”
The Rian Johnson–directed film is the third entry in the Knives Out franchise and a standalone sequel to 2022’s Glass Onion. Alongside Craig, the ensemble includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
Asked whether this might be his final outing as the Southern sleuth, Craig pushed back: “Who told you that? Listen, I don’t know. Rian hasn’t written anything because we’re getting this movie out.” But he left the door open for more: “If the writer-director writes another script and it’s as good as I think it probably will be, then it’s an easy decision.”
The TIFF premiere saw Johnson and much of the star-studded cast walk the carpet. In June, Netflix had already built hype by debuting the first teaser footage, where Craig teases a new case with the line, “The impossible crime… This is the Holy Grail.” The streamer also staged a playful presentation with Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, and others handing out T-shirts, while Glenn Close appeared via video with some unfiltered language.
Craig wrapped his five-film run as 007 with 2021’s No Time to Die. Earlier this year, it was reported that he may soon step into Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery hits theatres on November 26, 2025, followed by a December 12, 2025, release on Netflix.
