In 2025, Sesame Street delighted fans with an unofficial crossover with Rian Johnson’s Knives Out. The skit saw Benoit Blanc (actually, his Muppet doppelganger Beignet Blanc) solve a mystery on behalf of Cookie Monster.
However, hidden within the comedy short is a twist so audacious, it’s how Daniel Craig’s role in the franchise must eventually end.
Daniel Craig called the Sesame Street short “moving” after growing up watching the show.
Knives Out x Sesame Street Turns Benoit Blanc into the ‘Murderer’
In the comedy short, Beignet Blanc investigates who ate Cookie Monster’s triple-berry pie, with Elmo, Zoe and Oscar the Grouch as suspects.
Arriving on “this street called Sesame, on a sunny day turned cloudy,” Blanc quickly deduces that the whole thing is a misunderstanding – Elmo, Zoe and Oscar thought a ‘Free Sample’ sign for another pie applied to Cooke Monster’s too, with each eating a little bit (a knowing wink to the conclusion of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, where every suspect was in on the crime.)
As Cookie Monster concludes, “Everyone ate me pie!” … including Blanc himself, who is exposed thanks to a berry stain on his lapel. But while the funny short was enjoyed by fans – including Daniel Craig, who called the short “moving” after growing up watching Sesame Street – its final twist is also how the real Benoit Blanc’s story has to end.
Knives Out Has to Turn Benoit Blanc into the Killer
In the Sesame Street short, Blanc is secretly the perpetrator, despite also investigating the crime. That’s an awesome set-up for a Knives Out movie, and would perfectly fit with the established theme of Blanc seeking to vindicate the wrongly accused. What better motive for Blanc to clear an innocent of a crime than the fact he committed it himself?
As Wake Up Dead Man emphasizes, Blanc lives for the chase. So what would he do if he knew he’d caught a murderer but couldn’t prove it, leaving them to go free and kill again? Likely the same thing as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.
In 1975’s Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, Poirot discovers a killer who manipulates others to take lives. Knowing the law can’t touch the villain, Poirot carries out a murder of his own, then (ambiguously) causes his own death, not wanting to live as a murderer. Johnson has discussed in the past how much he was inspired by Christie, and a murderous Blanc would put its own spin on Poirot’s iconic ending.
Should Benoit Blanc’s Ending Be a Tragedy?
It would be a tragic albeit satisfying ending for Benoit Blanc’s last case to involve the detective investigating himself, with Craig’s hero revealing his own guilt rather than see an innocent person punished for his crimes.
However, if Blanc’s crime is less extreme than outright murder, this could be just another great entry in the Knives Out franchise, rather than the last (though Craig’s Southern detective definitely observes an impactful exit, when the hopefully long-distant time comes.)
In offering up its own Knives Out parody, Sesame Street has accidentally revealed the most effective way to twist the franchise’s themes – turn Benoit Blanc into the real perpetrator, and make his desire to exonerate the innocent clash with his own freedom.
