Rian Johnson has 'conceptual ideas' for Knives Out 4

Rian Johnson has come up with some "conceptual ideas" for his next Knives Out film.

The filmmaker is planning to take a break from the Knives Out franchise following the release of the third film, Wake Up Dead Man, however, he is already thinking about where the series could go next.

"I have some basic, elemental, conceptual ideas. Like, 'Okay, it'd be interesting if it were this kind of thing' kernels," Johnson told Entertainment Weekly.

"I don't have actual concrete ideas. I don't have a theme yet, I don't have a location. It's really pretty vague, and I feel like it's good to kinda keep it vague until I'm ready to actually sit down and write it."

Johnson kicked off the murder-mystery series, which stars Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc, with 2019's Knives Out and followed it up with 2022's Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man, which is now streaming on Netflix.

The Looper filmmaker previously revealed in October that he wanted to make at least one different movie before returning to the Knives Out franchise, and is currently working on a '70s-style paranoid thriller.

Johnson told the publication that he won't give the fourth Knives Out film too much thought until he's finished his next project, because he likes his whodunnits to feel timely.

"Part of making these movies, for me, is reacting to the present moment, not necessarily with current events or politics or culture specifically, but in terms of what we're all feeling in the world at that moment," he explained. "The vibe check of the United States and the moment that we're in."

He continued, "I like that these movies are not timeless, per se, and that they all have one foot in something that is common to all of us in our present moment. So, yeah, I don't know. I have a vague notion, but trying to keep it vague until it's time to actually do it."