Daniel Craig on What the ‘Extraordinary’ ‘Knives Out’ Movies Mean to Him (Exclusive)

Could Daniel Craig’s third time playing Benoit Blanc be his last? 

At the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on Saturday, Sept. 6, Craig, 57, reflected on the third of writer-director Rian Johnson’s “extraordinary” murder mystery movies. 

“How lucky am I to get to play something like this?” the English star tells PEOPLE on the premiere’s red carpet. Craig has played shrewd detective Blanc in 2019’s Knives Out and 2022’s Glass Onion. Wake Up Dead Man is in theaters Nov. 26 and streaming on Netflix Dec. 12.

“That’s all I can think of when I think about this character,” Craig continues. “I mean, I’ve played [James] Bond and now I’m suddenly playing Benoit Blanc. It’s dumb luck. I’m very lucky.”

Asked whether Wake Up Dead Man marks the end of his playing the iconic character, Craig quips, “Who told you that? Listen, I don’t know. Rian hasn’t written anything because we’re getting this movie out.”

But, he adds, if the writer-director “writes another script and it’s as good as I think it probably will be, then it’s an easy decision.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Joining Craig at the TIFF premiere of the sequel were Johnson, 51, as well as stars Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack and Jeremy Renner.

Johnson confirmed the third Knives Out film’s title in May, when he shared a teaser clip on X that included a voiceover mentioning Blanc’s “most dangerous case yet.” The filmmaker later shared a photo of Craig sporting long hair in character and announced that the film had wrapped production.

Addressing the possibility of a fourth go-around with Benoit Blanc, Johnson told Variety in 2022, “If each one of these can really be what Agatha Christie did, if it can be not just in a totally new location and a new cast, but also trying something exciting, I’ll keep doing it as long as Daniel [Craig] and I are having a good time. I’ll keep making these as long as they let me.”

Craig ended his five-movie tenure playing iconic agent 007 with 2021’s No Time to Die. In March, Deadline reported that he was being eyed to join Greta Gerwig’s big-screen adaptation of C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia novels. 

Following its world premiere, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is in theaters Nov. 26 and on Netflix Dec. 12. The 2025 Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 4–14.