Rian Johnson has hinted at Knives Out 4 with Daniel Craig and hopes to cast Meryl Streep. Wake Up Dead Man will arrive in 2025 before the next mystery begins.
If there’s one thing Rian Johnson has shown us these past few years, it’s that the whodunit isn’t defunct but it simply needed a new wardrobe. The Knives Out series has blossomed from a sleeper success into a cultural juggernaut, the quintessential cinematic comfort food for a generation exhausted by CGI superheroes. But now as we’re about to do the third, Wake Up Dead Man (in late 2025), the conversation is already shifting to the future. And that future has a name: Meryl Streep.
Rian Johnson tends to keep things close to the vest. He is notoriously not in possession of “wish lists” of actors, instead allowing the script to determine the casting. However, he has just broken his own rule in an interview with IndieWire, revealing that Meryl Streep for a future mystery is the one and only person he wants.
“I feel like you’d slot into a murder mystery very well,”
–Johnson said
Addressing the screen legend, It’s a match made in cinematic heaven. The Knives Out world is very much about tone, a sort of heightened reality where camp has real emotion. Streep is the unchallenged sovereign of this discrepancy. From the grotesque comedy of Death Becomes Her to the icy satire of The Devil Wears Prada, she can portray a matriarchal antagonist or a flustered intellectual counterpoint to Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc.
The campaign to get her is already in-house. Kerry Washington, star of the soon to Wake Up Dead Man, has gone public with her intention to “encourage” her former co-star to come aboard. In Hollywood, that sort of peer-to-peer validation is often what seals the deal.
Part of the brilliance of the Knives Out approach is its ”revolving door” policy. Except for the immaculately clad Benoit Blanc, no one makes it to the sequel. This “literary hex” format eliminates the “Cabot Cove Syndrome” (“where murder just keeps following one person around”) and keeps the storyline fresh.
According to Variety, This setup has come to serve as the franchise’s secret weapon in recruiting. It’s easy to see Streep, one of the finest actresses of her generation, expressing hesitation about signing a six-movie deal for a Marvel franchise, but a “one-and-done” invitation to play a quirky suspect in a glamorous location? That’s an easy yes. It gives Johnson the ability to book “Avengers-level” casts in what are basically mid-budget conversations in rooms.
“Daniel and I make these films as partners. The moment either of us feels even a little unsure, we’ll stop.
—Johnson said.
We have the 2025 release to work through before any Streep dreams. Wake Up Dead Man will move the satirical focus from the tech disruptors of Glass Onion to religious organizations. With a cast that includes Josh Brolin, Andrew Scott, and the legendary Glenn Close, the film appears to be trying out working with Hollywood royalty—perhaps a dry run for the “Streep Proposition.”
But the most intriguing twist may emerge behind the scenes. The massive $450 million four-picture deal Johnson inked with Netflix officially ends with this third film. This makes Knives Out 4 a “free agent.”
Johnson has spoken openly about his preference for the theatrical experience, and with the rights possibly coming available, we may get a huge bidding war among streamers and traditional studios. This grants Johnson and Daniel Craig extraordinary leverage. If they want to get Meryl Streep to the movie, not just the television movie, they can insist on a full theatrical run as a prerequisite for the next film.
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Asking for Meryl Streep in Knives Out now means the game is no longer a hit series, it’s trying to become a cinematic institution. In the age when franchise and reboots rule the roost, this franchise is the last holdout of the “adult blockbuster”—films that are propelled by dialogue, character and wit rather than explosions.
“When it’s all said and done, you make the movie and you just can’t see anybody else playing that role.”
—Johnson said.
Rian Johnson’s vision of Knives Out is constantly changing and deepening, and with the chance of Meryl Streep joining Daniel Craig in another film round, the franchise is moving closer to become a trip-holiday cinematic tradition. The stage is set for bigger names, bigger bids and an even grander reinvention of the modern whodunit with Wake Up Dead Man coming in 2025 and the fourth film currently in “free agent” limbo. If Streep makes her way into this world, it wouldn’t just be casting — it’d be history.
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Keira Knightley voices Umbridge in the new Harry Potter audiobook. She responds to the Rowling-Watson controversy, urging respect and understanding among fans.
Keira Knightley is also among the voice cast of the Audible “Harry Potter: The Full Cast Audio Editions,” in which she voices Professor Umbridge. The initial audiobook, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, will be released on 4 November 2025 exclusively on Audible, with the rest of the series becoming available monthly thereafter. Variety noted about the statement of Knightley after the Harry Potter actress Emma Watson and Rowling fueling disagreements on trans rights hit around.
In the Harry Potter movies, Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) is far more “normal” and straight-laced in appearance. The film features her character as a double faced lady, she looks innocent in a girly pink attire, even more attractive that no one can think of her as extremely vindictive and evil. It hits the harsh reality from the most cruel character.
The audiobook version, with Keira Knightley as Umbridge, is a vocal performance only. The voice acting is able to convey the tone, cruelty and emotional layers of Umbridge’s character in a way that visual exaggerations in the book or the normalized cinematic look do not allow.
Overall, The movie shows Umbridge as superficially normal looking but cold and callous, the book describes her physical features in a way that makes her look sickening to highlight how evil she is and the audiobook utilizes voice acting to represent her character without the visual aspect, making for an experience that is more open to interpretation.
The full-cast productions includes more than 200 voices including other well known actors such as Kit Harington as Professor Lockhart, James McAvoy as Mad-Eye Moody and Simon Pegg as Arthur Weasley.
In recent interviews, Keira Knightley has said she was unaware of the fan-organised boycott of the Harry Potter franchise (based on the comments of author J.K. Rowling regarding trans issues), prior to taking on the role of narrator in the series of audiobooks. Knightley said she hoped people could respect one another despite having opposing viewpoints.
She added, We all have our own points of view but respect is important in that. Maybe if we can just listen to one another a little more the world would seem a bit less fractured. Let’s all hope we can figure this out, together!
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J.K. Rowling recently responded to Emma Watson after the actress gave her opinion in a rare interview. Watson said that she could “still treasure” Rowling despite their disagreements over trans rights. Rowling responded with a dig at Watson, insinuating that she has “never known adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame.” It looks like the rivalry between the two still rumbles on, with their contrasting views continuing to divide fans and members of the public.
After J.K. Rowling expressed her approval of the UK Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not women in law, there was a bit of an outcry. Over 400 people have signed a letter calling for support for trans rights, including Paapa Essiedu, who is now playing the iconic role of Professor Snape in the upcoming Harry Potter series from HBO Max.
Deadline previously shared that she was involved in the pitch process for Warner Bros., with HBO Chairman and CEO Casey Bloys addressing the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s comments. Bloys explained that the situation is “very nuanced and complicated” but emphasized that their main focus is on what’s being brought to the screen. He highlighted that the Harry Potter story itself is a celebration of love, self-acceptance, and positivity, which remains the core of the franchise.
Keira Knightley’s presence on Harry Potter: The Full Cast Audio Editions offers a fresh and unique take on one of the series’ most notoriously unpleasant villains, Professor Umbridge. In her nuanced performance, fans will have a new way to “see” the magic, not through visuals, but through tone, emotion and imagination. In addition to the audiobook, her participation also reopens discussions about the continuing rift between J.K. Rowling and Emma Watson, and how the wizarding world still ends up mirroring real-world debates on respect and understanding of trans rights and lives.
Outlander star Rosie Day makes her powerful directorial debut in One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days with Alistair Petrie and Roman Griffin-Davis. Full details here.
Outlander Star Rosie Day is making her directorial debut with One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days, a powerful British cinema project. There’s a particular kind of enchantment that takes place when an actor who has been poked and prodded and told what to do for most of their life steps behind the camera. They don’t just make a movie, they curate a performance. British cinema, 2026 appears to be staking out the title of year of the actor-auteur. First up was Outlander Star Rosie Day. If you don’t know her by that name, then you will know her as the tough Mary Hawkins in Outlander or the quietly brutal lead in The Seasoning House.
But now, Outlander Star Rosie Day is swapping the corset for the director’s monitor to make her feature directorial debut with One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days – it seems less a debut and more a manifesto. Starring powerhouse talent such as Alistair Petrie (The Night Manager), Roman Griffin-Davis (Jojo Rabbit), and Alice Lowe (Timestalker) this isn’t just another indie drama — it’s a “a sucker punch to the heart.”
Outlander Star Rosie Day career has been shaped by parts that require her to be emotionally and physically tough. Mary Hawkins in Starz’s Outlander Star Rosie Day, which made her deal with complex trauma, sexual assault and historical repression. Likewise, The Seasoning House (her starring role) allowed Gara to express deep emotions with very little verbal exchange.
Outlander Star Rosie Day has never been afraid to explore the darker corners of human life. Acting, writing her hit book Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon – her goal has always been to “give the microphone back” to young people.
Statement on the production Day described the visceral impact of the script:
“One Hundred and Fifty Two Days is a deeply moving and powerful piece, with its hilarious moments perfectly balanced by tears. There’s a rarely seen screenplay that makes you experience so many feelings and turns that I can tell you this is a very moving experience.”
That quote is indicative of the film’s tone. This is not to imply that Day is turning out a grim melodrama. “Laughing” could indicate she’s embracing the absurdity of grief—strange encounters along the way, the dark comedy of hospitals and, yes, the grandmother figure. She added further about her excitement to ensemble:
“It’s going to be an amazing ride to watch, and I can’t wait to see where it goes!”
An otherwise undisclosed member of the writing duo, Giles Paley-Phillips (involved from the outset) has co-written the screenplay. He has spoken of the journey as being:
“I’m so grateful to be on this amazing journey working with such an incredible team and creative minds to tell this story. This is really rewarding on a personal level, and I’m very lucky to be doing it.”
The “personal” nature of this may be that it is autobiographical to some extent: Paley-Phillips has openly talked about losing his mother and how grief has influenced his life and his work. When a writer films their own story, especially one involving personal trauma, there is usually greater truth to the emotional story.
The pairing with Elizabeth Morris is a strategic one, Morris presumably grounds Paley-Phillips’s poetic tendencies with the requisite structural discipline of screenwriting.
The narrative of One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days is almost sadly poetic.
He must mourn from afar, stuck in medical limbo. It’s a story about the 152 days that define a life — a “blank” moment during which everything stops, yet everything changes.
The casting of One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days demonstrates a conscious effort to mix star appeal with proven character-actor skill.
| Actor | Known For | Narrative Archetype | Key Plot |
| Roman Griffin | Jojo Rabbit, Silent Night | The Boy (Protagonist) | After Jojo Rabbit, we know he can hold the weight of a film’s soul on his shoulders. |
| Alistair Petrie | The Night Manager, Sex Education | The Father (Likely) | Specializes in repressed authority figures. Perfect for a father who uses silence and rigidity (or alcohol) as a shield against grief. |
| Alice Lowe | Timestalker, Prevenge | Physiotherapist / Relative | Known for dark comedy. Will likely inject the “laugh” element Rosie Day mentioned, preventing the film from becoming maudlin. |
| Annette Badland | Ted Lasso, Outlander | The Grandmother (Likely) | A veteran character actress capable of great warmth and steel. A former colleague of Day from Outlander. |
| Paterson Joseph | Wonka, Peep Show | Doctor / Mentor | brings a charismatic gravitas. Can play the “institutional face” of the hospital or a supportive family friend. |
Both the book and its later film version are profoundly resonant with our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, though they were imagined well before its arrival. Its portrayal of a respiratory disease that causes isolation and separation is uncannily reminiscent of what people around the world are experiencing. This link lets viewers infuse their own recollections of lockdown, loss, and resilience into the story.
Under Outlander Star Rosie Day direction, the film turns into a bittersweet portrayal of shared trauma, affirming the anguish of separation and the emotional impact of medical crises on people and families as a whole.
The film is about grief and the male frailty and it subverts all the expected ones. By introducing the character of the “whimsical grandmother” as a vehicle for the grieving process being non-linear, it suggests the presence of life and death simultaneously and encourages the main character to live while losing. This say-turning laughter and tears up the complexity of loss. And the fact that they’re allowed to be vulnerable men and that is important in itself.
The Boy’s vulnerability and need for guidance stand in stark contrast to the Father’s repressed emotions, represented by his struggle with alcoholism. These aspects serve to demonstrate that mental health care, and particularly that of teenage boys and men, can be treated with compassion and realism — before our very eyes, in true Day fashion.
Outlander Star Rosie Day and Alistair Petrie, in fairness, aren’t just colleagues, they have a professional shorthand. Previously seen together at industry functions such as The Uninvited screening last year, it’s probably a safe assumption that their relationship brings a sense of trust on set that you can’t just make up.
When a director and their lead actor “speak the same language”, the performance is usually ten times stronger.
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Don’t expect your typical “hospital movie.” Since the original book was written in free verse, expect the film to rely on silence and visual metaphors rather than heavy dialogue.
Rosie Day’s previous short films, like Tracks, have told us she’s a filmmaker who can make the most of every moment on screen. In One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days, she is transposing poetry’s “white space” to the “quiet space” of cinema.
Verdict: This is a film about male vulnerability, the absurdity of grief, and the odd people (an “erratic” grandmother or a no-nonsense physiotherapist) who reel us back into the living world.
One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days would undoubtedly be a milestone in British film making when it is completed in 2027. This film elevates the basic tenets of the best-seller adaptation formula with an organic synthesis of art and commerce.
Outlander Star Rosie Day, making the leap from in front of the camera, applies her “teenage armageddon” concept to a sensitivity study of male frailty. Alistair Petrie assumes a role that questions his hardline authoritarian identity, with the pandemic shadowing, highlighting themes of solitude and reflection.
What makes the project unique, however, is its subtle narrative — about a boy fighting for breath — told by a director who is dedicated to telling the stories of young people. Should Day get her wish and meld emotional grit with comic relief, she’ll be further established as a sensitive auteur reflecting on the mess of being.
Production is underway on Britain’s craggy northern shoreline for what could be another classic of modern British social realism.
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