(Credits: Netflix)

Murder mysteries these days are not just intended to find the murderer and solve the case. The format has significantly changed over the years, and people like some whimsy in their murder mysteries – a lot, actually. It looks like Netflix is giving people that with its Knives Out movie series, and the latest candidate is the third movie of this series, Wake Up Dead Man.

It is never just about the murder. That much we have learnt from Rian Johnson’s Knives Out films so far.

We met the dysfunctional family of the Thrombeys in the first film, and the sunburnt egos of tech billionaires in Glass Onion. And if we have learnt anything is that half the thrill has always come from watching suspects getting suspected in front of Benoit Blanc.

Now, with the trailer for Wake Up Dead Man finally out, it looks like the congregation itself may be the most unholy bunch of suspects yet.

Who are the suspects?

Yes, you heard that right; the third part of the series takes our favourite detective, Mr Blanc, to a small church in upstate New York, where a shocking murder startles the parish. Now the primary suspects are all part of the congregation, and that includes a nervous young priest (played by Josh O’Connor), a calculating lawyer, a wary doctor and several townsfolk with secrets.

The trailer completely swapped the Mediterranean glow we enjoyed in Glass Onion for the gothic chill of a small church in upstate New York. Blanc, the world’s most stylish detective, is called in once again, but this time the real electricity comes from the gallery of faces staring back at him.

O’Connor is leading the charge as Father Jud Duplenticy. He is a fresh-faced priest whose good intentions are already cracking under the weight of suspicion. There is something in his nervous glances that suggests he knows more than his sermon would ever reveal. Along with hi,m we have Glenn Close’s Martha Delacroix, who is a church lady whose quiet devotion feels just a little too rehearsed.

Then comes Jeremy Renner, who is finally stepping into the Knives Out world but not as a hot sauce in-joke but as Dr Nat Sharp. He is the town physician who carries himself with precision, and the kind who makes you wonder if he is here to heal wounds or cause them. Add Andrew Scott as a bestselling author, Kerry Washington as the tightly wound lawyer Vera Draven, and Cailee Spaeny as a cellist, and suddenly the church feels like a stage for lies.

That is Johnson’s trick: he gives us characters who could all be guilty and deserve a closer look, and then lets Blanc wade into the contradictions. The trailer is not just about who killed whom, but how much theatre there is in being a suspect.

And while Craig’s Blanc remains the anchor of the story, the real hook this time is the cast. Moreover, we also have Mila Kunis joining the cast as the local police chief. This time, Johnson has made sure that the cast is not just decoration around a mystery… they are the mystery.

Wake Up Dead Man will premiere first at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6th, before opening the BFI London Film Festival in October. It will enjoy a theatrical run starting November 26th before finally arriving on Netflix on December 12th. Judging by the trailer, the real drama will not just be about who the killer is, but which suspect we cannot stop talking about afterwards.