“I mean, it was the elephant in the room, let’s face it,” O’Connor tells EW.

Josh O’Connor decides who’s sexier: His *Knives Out *reverend or costar Andrew Scott’s Hot Priest (exclusive)

"I mean, it was the elephant in the room, let's face it," O'Connor tells EW.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in *TV Guide Magazine*, E! News/E! Online, *The Hollywood Reporter*, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, *The Daily Northwestern*, and more.

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November 20, 2025 10:00 a.m. ET

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Glenn Close, Josh O'Connor and Daniel Craig in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'. Credit:

Courtesy of Netflix

Josh O'Connor has a confession to make.

The *Wake Up Dead Man* star doesn't think he'll be the internet's new favorite Hot Priest. That title, he says, will always belong to his *Knives Out *costar Andrew Scott.

"I will never be able to top the billing of Andrew Scott, as far as Hot Priest is concerned," O'Connor tells *. *

While O'Connor is of course entitled to his opinion, that won't stop audiences from dubbing him the next Sexiest Clergyman Alive after seeing Rian Johnson's *Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery* (in select theaters Nov. 26 before streaming on Netflix Dec. 12). The Emmy-winning *The Crown *star plays the young, irreverent Rev. Jud Duplenticy, a tattooed (no, none of them are real), cursing ex-boxer who found religion late in life. But his faith is tested when an impossible death strikes his small town congregation, and all evidence points to him as the murderer.

Blessedly, the internet's former (and forever) Hot Priest, *Fleabag* breakout Scott, also stars in the third *Knives Out* film. He plays one of the sinning church-goers whose allegiance lies with Jud's nemesis, the powerful, fear-mongering Msgr. Wicks (Josh Brolin). But O'Connor tells EW that he and Scott never actually discussed their unique connection of playing religious heartthrobs onscreen.

Daniel Craig and Josh O'Connor in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'.

John Wilson/Netflix

"I mean, it was the elephant in the room, let's face it," O'Connor jokes. "Andrew's a great friend of mine, and I adore him, and he's one of my favorite actors in the whole world. His performance in *Fleabag* was rightly praised for its magic. But as I've gotten to know Andrew, he's not one to ever give advice to anyone unless asked. And even then, I think he'd be resistant. He's the most humble, bound-to-Earth man. But I think he's so gracious and so supportive that if there ever were any words of wisdom, it was just one of love and support, really."

But it wasn't Rev. Jud's near-sacrilegious sex appeal — and audiences' potential ensuing lust for him — that attracted O'Connor to the role. The *Challengers* star was deeply fascinated by Johnson's script, which explored religious leaders portrayed as real people who make mistakes and seek forgiveness and redemption.**

"We often hold priests, or in any sort of faith or religion, that role of hierarchical leader or preacher or priest or whatever it is, there's this subconscious notion of them being otherworldly or not human," O'Connor says. "When the reality is they are human. And Jud is flawed, *deeply* flawed, and guilty. He swears. He's a young priest trying his best to fit in. He's this young man who's come straight out of priest school and is ready to take on the world, and he's just slowly pulled apart by Wicks."

The push-and-pull between the enthusiastic, optimistic ideology of Rev. Jud vs. Msgr. Wicks's more traditional, fire-and-brimstone preaching is what drives most of the film and its whodunnit mystery. O'Connor loved portraying Jud's more accepting, loving worldview that "makes him so approachable to the community and his parishioners." He reveals that he based his performance on a real person he connected with while doing research for the role.

Josh O'Connor, Daniel Craig and Mila Kunis in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'.

John Wilson/Netflix

"Rian very kindly introduced me to a priest called Father Scott, who is based out in Colorado," O'Connor says. "Father Scott and I had a few calls that were really brilliant and gripping, philosophically challenging, just great. That really formed Jud — I really leaned into Father Scott's example."

He also trained in boxing to lay the foundation for Jud's mysterious past that led him to find religion. Still, the most important aspect in building the character came from one line of dialogue in the script.

"It's a line that Jud says, which is that 'God loves me when I'm guilty,'" O'Connor says. "Very often, when I start on a role, I'll figure out what the character's flaws are, what their weaknesses are, and how those regrets have formed and shaped them. We live in a time where mistakes are damning, and he was a character who was saying, 'I made this grave error and yet I believe in change, I believe in reform, and I believe in forgiveness.' Those were the areas that Rian and I were really trying to delve in on."

The actor was thrilled at how this *Knives Out *film explores a positive side of religion through his character, which he doesn't often see in real life but knows exists. It's what his initial conversations with writer-director Johnson were all about before he officially signed on to the project.**

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Josh Brolin says he's a 'not so hot’ priest in 'Knives Out 3'

"We had calls where he explained, not about the mystery necessarily, but more to do with the themes of forgiveness and all the ideas that are particularly at the center of Jud's story, and we clicked immediately," O'Connor says. "Rian grew up in a Christian church, I grew up in an Irish Catholic tradition, and we both have complicated feelings about faith, but also a lot of hope about faith, and acknowledge the beauty behind it."

O'Connor hopes audiences connect with the themes of redemption, forgiveness, and connection, especially while living in this "extremely polarized time — of course in the U.S. but in the U.K. too," he says. "Very often, the political and the religious line can be really sort of hazy, and so in that sense, [this is] very relevant to where we are now."

While the movie explores these serious themes, the vibe on set was anything but. O'Connor remembers filming for the first two weeks with just Daniel Craig (reprising his role as eccentric detective Benoit Blanc) and Mila Kunis (debuting as no-nonsense local police chief Geraldine Scott) before the rest of the star-studded cast arrived.

Daniel Craig and Josh O'Connor in 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'.

John Wilson/Netflix

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"We had such a laugh," O'Connor says of their trio. "The three of us really created a bond and a chemistry, and then suddenly it was extraordinary — suddenly Glenn Close walks up, and then Brolin arrives, and suddenly there's Kerry Washington, and it just keeps getting better and better and better."

O'Connor is a self-described fan of both the first two *Knives Out *films, and he's excited for fans to see this third installment because it's a "return" to the magic of the first. "Rian, as a writer but also as a director, is able to bring a big story into quite a small space with the church, but also this community, and he does it so seamlessly," he says. "This one feels fresh and unique and standalone, and I'm very proud of it."

Bless him, Father, for he has sinned — pride *is* a sin, after all.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Movies”