Forget 'The Last Jedi' — Rian Johnson Explains Why 'Wake Up Dead Man' "Was the Hardest Thing I've Ever Written"

Rian Johnson is dealing in a rare commodity these days among the Hollywood crowd. As a writer-director, Johnson not only has seven original feature films under his belt, but his original and adapted screenplays for his beloved Knives Out whodunit series have earned him two Academy Award nominations. Now, once again, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third in the Netflix franchise, is buzzing with awards talk. But despite having two solid, chart-topping films in Benoit Blanc’s (Daniel Craig) ongoing saga, Wake Up Dead Man posed a unique challenge for Johnson. “This was the hardest thing I’ve ever written,” the filmmaker tells Collider’s Perri Nemiroff during an interview with Johnson and one of the threequel’s leads, rising star Josh O’Connor.