Rian Johnson says Knives Out 3 is “coming along”

Rian Johnson isn’t just a master of creating elaborate puzzle box mysteries—literally, if we’re talking about those beautiful wooden chests from the beginning of Glass Onion. He’s also great at talking about the one thing that scares writers the most: actually having to write.

In a recent interview with The Wrap, Johnson was somewhat begrudgingly forced to answer a question about the status of Knives Out 3, which Netflix originally ordered in 2021 for around $450 million (along with what would eventually become Glass Onion).

“It’s coming along,” he replied. “I obviously couldn’t work during the strike, and now that it’s over, I’m diving in full force, and so it’s coming along. I’ve got the premise, I’ve got the setting, I’ve got what the movie is in my head. It’s just a matter of writing the damn thing.”

While Johnson may have all of the details hammered out in his memory palace, the only thing that’s been explicitly confirmed to audiences thus far is the return of Daniel Craig’s Southern-fried detective Benoit Blanc (and presumably all of those tiny scarves).

It’s not that hard to understand why Johnson might be hesitant to actually put pen to paper on the third installment of his surprise smash-hit franchise. Not only are expectations massive, but it sounds like actually working out the kinks of a well-oiled mystery is pretty damn hard.

“A hundred times a day, you’ll see an actor coming towards you, and you’ll see in their eye they have a question. On a whodunit, every single time that happens, it’s the scariest five seconds, because you think they’re going to ask the question that reveals the inconsistency where this whole thing unravels,” the director shared in a 2022 interview. “Partway through shooting Glass Onion, there was one thing—I think Daniel caught it. It was mostly terrifying because of the idea that I know I could fix this, but, oh shit, did I miss something else? And Daniel would somehow lose faith in me.” Still, if he’s made it this far, we’re sure he’ll be able to pull out something even more elaborate the third time around.