What Order Should You Watch the Knives Out Movies In
In short: Watch them in release order: Knives Out (2019), Glass Onion (2022) and Wake Up Dead Man (2025). But each is a complete, standalone mystery with a new cast, so you can start anywhere. Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc is the only thing that carries over. A fourth film is being discussed but isn't announced.
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- Knives Out (2019). Crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead the morning after his 85th birthday, and his grasping family all stand to inherit. Ana de Armas plays Marta, his nurse, who becomes the centre of the case. Released in cinemas by Lionsgate. It made about $311 million and earned an Oscar nomination for its screenplay.
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022). Tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) invites his old friends to his private Greek island for a murder-mystery weekend that turns real. Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn and Kate Hudson co-star. Netflix bought this and the next film for a reported $469 million, and it also earned a screenplay Oscar nomination.
- Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025). Blanc investigates a seemingly impossible death at a small church in upstate New York. Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close and Josh Brolin lead the cast. It had a limited cinema run from November 26, 2025 and arrived on Netflix on December 12.
Do you need to watch them in order?
No. Writer-director Rian Johnson built the series like Agatha Christie's Poirot novels: every film is a complete puzzle with new suspects, and none relies on the plot of another. The only real reason to start with Knives Out is that it introduces Blanc's manner and accent most patiently.
Which one to start with
- You want a classic whodunit: Knives Out. One house, one family, one inheritance.
- You want something funny and sharp: Glass Onion, a broad satire of the super-rich.
- You want something moody and serious: Wake Up Dead Man, which is darker and more about faith and guilt.
How they were received
All three have been critical hits. Wake Up Dead Man reviewed best, at around 92% from critics and 94% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviews calling it the best of the series. It opened as Netflix's top film with 20.2 million views in its first three days, though that was about 40% below Glass Onion's debut.
Is there a fourth Knives Out movie?
Not officially. Johnson and Daniel Craig have said they want to keep going and have started discussing another mystery, but Johnson plans to make a different film first, and nothing has been announced. Based on the three-year gaps so far, don't expect a new Blanc mystery before the end of the decade.
More series to watch in order: the Fast and Furious films, the Narnia movies and Tom Holland's Spider-Man films.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I stream the Knives Out movies? Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man are Netflix films. The original Knives Out is a Lionsgate film, so where it streams depends on your country.
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