Rian Johnson is already teasing what could happen next for the At loggerheads universe, even as the third film in the series has just debuted.
Wake up dead manThe latest mystery, starring Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, arrived on Netflix on December 12, and while fans are still digesting this story, Johnson is looking ahead, cautiously.
In a recent conversation with Weekly Entertainmentthe filmmaker confirmed that early thoughts on a fourth At loggerheads the film begins to form, although nothing is close to being locked down.
“I have some basic, elementary conceptual ideas. Like, ‘Okay, it would be interesting if these were kernels of this stuff,'” Johnson explained. At the same time, he emphasized how early the process really was.
“I don’t have any concrete ideas. I don’t have a theme yet. I don’t have a location. It’s really quite vague, and I feel like it’s good to keep it a little vague until I’m ready to sit down and write it.”
For now, Johnson isn’t rushing into Benoit Blanc’s world. He explained that he hoped to direct at least one original film before returning to the franchise, noting that each At loggerheads the film is meant to reflect the era in which it was made.
This approach, he said, requires patience rather than speed.
“For me, part of making these films is responding to the present moment, not necessarily based on current events or politics or culture in particular, but based on how we’re all feeling in the world at that moment,” Johnson said.
He added that films are intentionally not timeless.
“I like the fact that these films are not timeless per se and that they all have a foot in something that is common to all of us in our present moment,” he explained, reiterating that keeping ideas free helps preserve that creative instinct.
THE At loggerheads The franchise began in 2019 with the theatrical release of the original film.
Netflix later acquired the rights to two sequels, releasing Glass onion in 2022.
Wake up dead man premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and also had a limited theatrical release starting November 26.
Although a fourth installment is not officially in development, Johnson’s comments make one thing clear: the door to another Benoit Blanc mystery is very open, but not completely open yet.
