Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman on Future of Knives Out Franchise

At a glance, T-Street Productions doesn’t look like much — a quiet, repurposed West Los Angeles building that once housed a music supply store. But within its walls, a small collective of fiercely loyal creatives is doing something increasingly rare in Hollywood: They’re betting on storytelling for storytelling’s sake.

Founded by director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman, T-Street is not your typical film company. It has no corporate parent, no studio first-look deal and no brand-building ambitions beyond making original films that connect with audiences. It’s a creative sanctuary designed by and for filmmakers — where risk isn’t avoided, it’s encouraged.

“We’ve never had a plan to grow for growth’s sake,” Bergman tells Variety. “We’re not trying to flip this into a studio deal or sell it off. It’s about supporting filmmakers. That’s it.”

That ethos has yielded everything from the Oscar-winning “American Fiction” (2023) to the wildly successful “Knives Out” franchise, the third installment of which, “Wake Up Dead Man,” debuts in theaters this week.

But the real story of T-Street is not only the films but also the people who make them.

Courtesy of Netflix

Long before “Knives Out” became a pop culture phenomenon, Johnson and Bergman were already shaping their careers around artistic control by self-financing films. It was a practice that began as a necessity with Johnson’s debut, “Brick” (2005), and later evolved into a principle.

“People told us not to put our own money in,” Bergman says. “But if we’re not willing to bet on ourselves, why should anyone else?”

That mindset birthed T-Street in the shadow of “Knives Out.” The first film was made independently and sold after completion. It was a gamble that paid off. The two-picture sequel deal with Netflix was wildly lucrative, bringing in an astounding $450 million. But that deal is now up, and the rights remain with Johnson and Bergman. “It’s still our franchise,” Bergman notes.

Johnson is just as uncompromising, declaring no other person will write or direct a “Knives Out” movie. “I don’t see it as IP,” he says. “Each ‘Knives Out’ film is something I want to make. If that stops being the case, we won’t do another one.”

That protective stance extends to the franchise’s very DNA. Johnson has made clear he doesn’t want returning characters beyond Benoit Blanc, ruling out any “Avengers”-style ensemble reunion that fans would expect (and some previous cast members, such as Kate Hudson, had advocated for). “I love the fact that each one of these is entirely its own case, entirely its own mystery,” Johnson asserts. “I love actors, I want to keep working with new actors, too. At this point, I like the idea of having a new group of folks each time.” It’s a philosophy that keeps each film fresh while also ensuring Johnson remains the sole creative architect.

And while “Wake Up Dead Man” marks the final installment of that deal, Johnson says the future of the Benoit Blanc mysteries remains unwritten — and entirely up to them. “We both feel energized coming out of this one,” Johnson says with confidence. “Whenever I get the next idea, we’ll go from there.”

Johnson is currently writing an original movie, which they hope to begin shooting in 2026.

The idea for the Benoit Blanc character had been percolating in Johnson’s mind for years. Bergman revealed that Johnson first mentioned the murder mystery concept to his wife, Karina Longworth, on their first date — a full decade before “Knives Out” came to fruition. By early 2017, as the massive “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” production wound down and the team shrank from thousands to just a handful, Johnson began writing what would become the first film in the franchise.

While “Knives Out” flourished on the big screen, Johnson and Bergman also ventured into television with the killer-of-the-week thriller “Poker Face,” starring Natasha Lyonne as a casino worker with an uncanny ability to detect lies. The series, which aired on Peacock, earned critical acclaim and a couple of Emmy nominations. However, despite its critical and devoted fanbase success, Peacock canceled the show after two seasons. Johnson and producer MRC are shopping around a new iteration of “Poker Face” with Peter Dinklage taking over for Lyonne in the lead role.

T-Street’s reputation for secrecy means that Hollywood rumor mills often work overtime. When the buzz is fairly “silent,” that can breed speculation, usually, wildly off-base. Before “Wake Up Dead Man” was unveiled at Toronto, rumors began circulating that it was “awful,” leaving some of us wondering if Johnson was going to step into his first major critical bomb. That didn’t happen. In fact, the film currently sits at a robust 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. The team is unfazed by any online chatter and prefers to let the work speak for itself once it reaches audiences.

Netflix

If T-Street is the machine, the engine is its producers: Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair, Leopold Hughes and Katie McNeill. Each one, handpicked and battle-tested, runs point on the company’s tightly curated slate.

Each of T-Street’s four lead producers arrived via different paths, but they share a creative shorthand that comes not just from years of working together but from a shared sense of purpose.

LeClair, the company’s most senior member, started in a consultative capacity, helping Bergman and Johnson formalize a vision that would prioritize “quality and originality” over scale. “They didn’t want a traditional company,” he recalls. “We spent a long time discussing what it could be — and more importantly, what it shouldn’t be.”

Hughes, who began as an assistant on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” describes his induction into the fold as “almost accidental.” After several years supporting Johnson through postproduction, he was asked to stay. “There was never a grand plan,” he says. “Just a consistent belief in doing the work, and doing it well.”

McNeill, the newest addition, arrived during the industry’s recent strikes. After previously bringing a project to T-Street for potential financing, she reached out to reconnect — only to find herself interviewing mid-conversation. “It was a little surreal,” she shares. “Ben started introducing me to everyone and talking about the ethos of the company. Eventually, I had to ask — ‘Wait, is this a job interview?’”

At a time when “producer” can be a murky title — a bargaining chip as often as a job description — the T-Street quartet maintains a refreshingly unglamorous perspective.

“There’s no part of the movie we’re not involved in,” McNeill says. “You’re there in development, you’re there in prep, you’re on set, you’re in post, you’re helping with awards strategy. A real producer never says, ‘That’s not my job.’”

Karamigios adds, “It’s a fill-in-the-gaps role. You’re the one making sure the organism functions — keeping things on track when others can’t or won’t.”

The team doesn’t “assign” films in the usual sense. Instead, producers organically claim projects based on relationships and instincts. “It’s all about trust,” LeClair shares. “If one of us is passionate about a project or a person, we all back it. That’s the model.”

For all the talk of creative control, what defines T-Street is its intense commitment to filmmaker support.

Bergman says the Hollywood moviemaking system can be fragmented and is broken: “One person develops the film, another runs production. Filmmakers feel abandoned. We wanted to change that.”

That shift is tangible, as seen with directors like Cord Jefferson (“American Fiction”) and Chloe Domont (“Fair Play”), who received full-spectrum producing support — from preproduction through release and awards strategy. “Those successes aren’t ours,” Bergman asserts. “They belong to our producers and the filmmakers. We just gave them the room.”

Most T-Street films are cut in-house, with directors cycling through the space daily. “It’s part school, part studio, part clubhouse,” says Karamigios. “And the filmmakers feel that.”

The company has no mandate to adapt IP or chase market trends. Instead, they reverse-engineer the process: Find a voice worth investing in, then build a project around that.

“We don’t go out looking for superhero scripts,” Johnson says. “We look for weird, honest people who have something to say. If that resonates with a big audience? Great. If not? At least we didn’t make something soulless.”

“Wake Up Dead Man” is no exception. While audiences will come for the return of Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, Johnson insists the thrill is still in discovery. “It’s not about milking a franchise,” he says. “It’s about making something good again. The rest is noise.”

Both previous “Knives Out” films received Producers Guild of America nominations for best picture, while Johnson earned Oscar noms for original screenplay with the first film and adapted screenplay for “Glass Onion.”

For a company so defined by its restraint, making only a handful of projects per year, its impact has been outsized.

“We’ve learned we can make a living making the movies we want to make,” Bergman says. “And that’s everything. We own our schedule. We own our office. We even own the building. That freedom is the real product here.”

That sense of autonomy — and camaraderie — is something Johnson doesn’t take for granted.

“To have a partner you can 100% trust, that’s rare,” he said, nodding to Bergman. “It’s the biggest blessing in this business.”

“Wake Up Dead Man” opens in theaters on Nov. 26 and debuts on the Netflix platform on Dec. 12.