Rian Johnson has some ‘conceptual ideas’ for Knives Out 4

Rian Johnson has some “conceptual ideas” for a fourth Knives Out movie.

As the latest entry Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery debuts on Netflix, the 51-year-old director has already turned his attention to what’s next for his whodunnit franchise, and while Johnson does have some ideas for the fourth film, he has emphasized they are not “concrete” concepts.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Johnson said: “I have some basic, elemental, conceptual ideas. Like, ‘Okay, it’d be interesting if it were this kind of thing’ kernels.

“I don’t have actual concrete ideas. I don’t have a theme yet. I don’t have a location. It’s really pretty vague, and I feel like it’s good to kinda keep it vague until I’m ready to actually sit down and write it.”

While he is working on a fourth Knives Out movie, Johnson wants to direct at least one original picture before returning to his whodunnit franchise.

The Star Wars: The Last Jedi director explained each Knives Out film is a product of its time, and so the next movie’s plot and themes can not be rushed.

He said: “Part of making these movies, for me, is reacting to the present moment, not necessarily with current events or politics or culture specifically, but in terms of what we’re all feeling in the world at that moment.

“I like that these movies are not timeless, per se, and that they all have one foot in something that is common to all of us in our present moment.

“So, yeah, I don’t know. I have a vague notion, but trying to keep it vague until it’s time to actually do it.”

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery follows detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) as he tries to solve the murder of Monseigneur Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) in a small parish.

While priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) appears to be the likely culprit, Blanc is adamant there is more to the case, and soon finds his intricate investigation begins to spiral out of control when Wicks seemingly returns from the grave.

Wake Up Dead Man also stars Jeremy Renner as town doctor Nat Sharp, Daryl McCormack as aspiring politician Cy Draven, Kerry Washington as lawyer Vera Draven, Cailee Spaeny as concert cellist Simone Vivane, Glenn Close as devout churchgoer Martha Delacroix, Thomas Haden Church as groundskeeper Samson Holt, Andrew Scott as author Lee Ross and Mila Kunis as police chief Geraldine Scott.

While Johnson will return to Knives Out eventually, the Looper filmmaker previously insisted no one other than himself would write or direct a new entry in his franchise.

He told Variety: “I don’t see it as IP. Each Knives Out film is something I want to make. If that stops being the case, we won’t do another one.”

Johnson added he was not interested in “milking” Knives Out, and instead only wanted to expand on the series if he had the right story to tell.

He said: “It’s not about milking a franchise. It’s about making something good again. The rest is noise.”