Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Q&A, with Rian Johnson

This week on On Story, we're talking to Rian Johnson about his process writing and directing Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. This third installment of the Knives Out series follows an ambitious young Catholic priest, and former boxer, named Jud Duplencity. Jud teams up with detective Benoit Blanc after the divisive Monsignor of his small, rural parish is murdered mid-sermon. Outside of the Knives Out series, Johnson has two decades of experience writing and directing in the mystery and sci-fi genres. He made his directorial debut in 2005 with Brick, a neo-noir mystery set in a suburban high school. He dove into the sci-fi genre in 2012, with his time-travel action epic, Looper. Next, he served as the writer-director for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the second installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. In addition to his work on film, Johnson has also directed episodes of Breaking Bad, and created the "case of the week" crime-comedy series Poker Face. Rian Johnson sat down with AFF moderator Casey Baron for a post-screening Q&A for his newest feature, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

You can listen to Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Q&A, with Rian Johnson online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Q&A, with Rian Johnson is an episode from AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL'S ON STORY PODCAST by Austin Film Festival.

This episode is 25:56 long.

This episode was published on Jan 28, 2026.

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