Why Monsignor Jefferson Wicks Had to Die in Wake Up Dead Man: The “Plot Hole” Explained (All Deaths Included)

Major spoilers ahead. This breaks down (1) why Jefferson Wicks’ death is the story’s engine, (2) how the “impossible” locked-room-style murder actually works, and (3) every character who dies in the film—on-screen and in backstory.

Quick Answer: Jefferson Wicks Had to Die Because the Whole Mystery Is Built Around an “Impossible Crime”

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is designed like a classic “impossible crime” puzzle: the kind where a person appears to die in a sealed space, with witnesses nearby and no clean path for a killer. Jefferson Wicks’ death isn’t just a random inciting incident—it’s the mechanical requirement for the movie’s central trick.

If Wicks doesn’t die right then—mid-service, in the church’s side closet, with timing tight enough to feel miraculous—there’s no “holy grail” puzzle for Blanc to untangle, no reason the congregation turns into a pressure-cooker, and no reason Father Jud’s faith gets stress-tested by a crime that looks like a miracle.

Related Watch: The Official Trailer (to Revisit the “Impossible” Setup)

The Real Reason Wicks Had to Die (Story Logic + Theme, Not Just Shock Value)

There are two layers here: plot engineering and theme.

Plot engineering: Wicks is a lightning-rod. He has status, power, and a congregation that’s already primed to interpret coincidence as “sign.” Killing him in the church, during a holy service, in a way that looks physically impossible, forces every suspect to pick a side: rational explanation vs. religious narrative.

Theme: Wicks’ death is the match that lights the film’s bigger fire—how people use belief to excuse cruelty, how institutions protect themselves, and how “good” people justify an unforgivable act if it serves the “right” cause. The movie needs Wicks dead because the conspiracy depends on turning a murder into something that feels like a miracle.

What Reddit Theories Say About the “Plot Hole”: “How Could He Drop So Fast?”

One of the biggest audience “wait, what?” moments is the speed: Wicks steps away, and moments later he’s down. Some viewers (especially on Reddit) zoom in on the drug/poison timing and ask: if a poison takes minutes to kill, why does Wicks collapse almost immediately?

The clean answer is: two different substances are in play. The film’s murder setup uses a sedative/tranquilizer effect to make Wicks collapse on cue, while later deaths involve a different lethal drug with a different timeline. The collapse is part of the illusion; the “blood” is part of the illusion; the actual killing happens when attention is redirected.

The Plot Hole Explained: How the “Impossible” Murder Actually Works (Step-by-Step)

The “plot hole” isn’t that the movie forgot how physics works. It’s that the murder is staged like a magic trick: the audience is watching the wrong “moment of death.”

Wicks goes into the side closet to recover. It’s routine, so nobody panics.
His flask has been tampered with. He drinks, and a powerful sedative/tranquilizer knocks him down quickly. He’s not dead yet—just incapacitated enough to be “handled.”
A fake-blood device sells the timing. A red, devil-like headpiece (described as a wolf’s head painted red to read as “devil” imagery) contains a blood squib triggered remotely. The blood appears at the exact moment it needs to, so the discovery feels instantaneous and supernatural.
The killer uses authority to control the scene. A medical professional steps in, tells people what not to touch, and “manages” the body—buying seconds and controlling where eyes go.
The real killing happens during the distraction. While the room is emotionally loud—screams, panic, bodies moving—the real blade goes in. The trick is that the audience (and the congregation) already accepted the murder as “done” once blood appeared.

That’s why it plays like a locked-room miracle: the apparent time of death is staged, and the actual time of death is hidden inside the chaos the staging creates.

Related Watch: The Teaser That Frames It as an “Impossible Crime”

Reddit Clue-Spotting: The Tiny Detail That Makes the Trick “Fair”

A lot of Reddit viewers love (or hate) “fair play” mysteries—where the movie shows you the truth, but you don’t realize what you’re seeing until the reveal. In the big discussion threads, people point to small physical clues that become obvious in hindsight (like fabric/threads, props, and the staged-blood mechanism).

That’s the movie’s real tightrope: it has to be complicated enough to feel impossible, but still leave enough physical breadcrumbs that a rewatch feels satisfying instead of random.

Embedded X (Twitter): The First Title Reveal (Official Tease)

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Embedded X (Twitter): The Theatrical + Netflix Release Announcement

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All Dead Characters in Wake Up Dead Man (On-Screen + Backstory)

If you came here specifically to see “who dies,” here’s the complete list in one place.

Character	Actor	How/When	Responsible (Directly)	Notes
Monsignor Jefferson Wicks	Josh Brolin	Drugged, staged as “miracle,” then stabbed during the commotion	Dr. Nat Sharp (final stab), under Martha’s plan	The central “impossible crime” victim
Samson Holt	Thomas Haden Church	Killed after the tomb/“resurrection” staging goes sideways	Dr. Nat Sharp	Framed so it looks like Jud may have done it
Dr. Nat Sharp	Jeremy Renner	Poisoned, then staged in an acid-bath scene	Martha Delacroix	Greed breaks the conspiracy apart
Martha Delacroix	Glenn Close	Dies after confessing; takes a lethal dose of poison	Martha Delacroix	Her death closes the conspiracy and anchors Jud’s “grace” theme
Reverend Prentice Wicks	James Faulkner	Backstory death tied to the hidden jewel	Reverend Prentice Wicks	His remains become central to the motive
Jud Duplenticy’s unnamed boxing opponent	Not named	Backstory death (in the ring)	Jud Duplenticy (past)	Explains why everyone suspects Jud is capable of killing

Reddit Reactions to the Ending: Why Martha “Had to” Die Too

Some viewers read Martha’s death as punishment, others as tragedy, others as narrative cleanup. But structurally, her death does three jobs at once:

It completes the moral arc. The film is as much about confession and absolution as it is about deduction. Martha’s ending forces the story to confront guilt instead of letting the mastermind walk away untouched.
It seals the “miracle” theme. The conspiracy tries to manufacture holiness through deception. Martha’s final moments pivot from performance to genuine admission.
It keeps the finale from becoming a simple courtroom wrap-up. A typical whodunit ending is “and then the police took them away.” This one insists on something messier: consequences inside the community, not just outside it.

Embedded Instagram: Production “Day One” Look

Embedded Instagram: “That’s a Wrap” Post

Why This Isn’t Really a Plot Hole (It’s a Classic “Misdirected Timeline” Trick)

When people say “plot hole,” they usually mean one of two things:

“The movie contradicts itself.” (Example: a locked room with no entry, but later they claim someone walked in normally.)
“The movie hid information unfairly.” (Example: an unseen twin shows up in the last five minutes.)

Wake Up Dead Man is doing something different: it’s telling you the truth early (Wicks collapses; blood appears; the room erupts) but letting your brain label that as “death” before the story quietly swaps in the actual killing moment. That’s not a contradiction—it’s the core technique behind many “impossible crime” mysteries.

FAQ (Reddit-Style Quick Hits)

Did Martha or Nat “really” kill Wicks?

Martha is the architect of the plan, but the killing blow is delivered by Nat. The whole point is misdirection: the “miracle murder” needs a staged collapse and staged blood, followed by the real stab when everyone’s eyes are elsewhere.

Why stage the resurrection at all?

The conspiracy isn’t just about getting away with murder. It’s about controlling the story—turning a scandal into reverence, and turning a crime into something the town can worship.

So what’s the simplest way to explain the “impossible crime”?

The body looks dead before it is. The room looks sealed because the action that matters happens during panic and authority-driven confusion, not during the quiet moment everyone remembers.

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Why Monsignor Jefferson Wicks Had to Die in Wake Up Dead Man: The Plot Hole Explained (All Deaths)