From ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ to ‘Rebuilding,’ 2025 Has Truly Been the Year of Josh O’Connor

It’s never entirely clear which young actors will end up popping, but it was pretty clear from the moment that Josh O’Connor stepped into the role of a young King Charles on The Crown that he was a uniquely talented performer. Instead of assigning himself to a franchise role that would have eaten up much of his schedule, O’Connor spent the next few years giving scene-stealing performances in everything from Emma to Challengers. O’Connor is the star of four very different 2025 films, each of which is centered around a dynamic lead performance. By ensuring that he isn’t typecast, O’Connor has made unexpected choices that make each of his projects feel exciting.

Stepping up to play the co-lead in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery certainly came with expectations when considering the franchise’s history of terrific ensemble casts, but O’Connor was also given an opportunity to work with a master filmmaker when appearing in Kelly Reichardt’s period drama The Mastermind. Conversely, smaller films like Rebuilding and The History of Sound were far more modest productions that likely wouldn’t have received as much attention if it was not for O’Connor’s involvement. O’Connor proved in 2025 he could be devastating, dashing, hilarious, and heartwarming, as each of his four performances tease the trajectory of one of the most exciting young actors of his generation.

Josh O’Connor Has Been Expanding His Range

Although each film in the Knives Out trilogy is a carefully plotted mystery with a number of interesting suspects, the third entry in the franchise is the first in which Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc takes a backseat. O’Connor is the true lead of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery because his character, Reverend Jud Duplenticy, joins forces with the sly detective after the death of his boss, the priest Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). Faith is an incredibly challenging subject to discuss in cinema, but O’Connor finds a hopeful spirit within Jud’s belief that people can be better, even if he is faced with evidence that points to the contrary. Although his chemistry with Craig is excellent thanks to Rian Johnson’s sharp dialogue, O’Connor does not just add comic relief to the story. In fact, it’s the sincerity with which he examines Jud’s turmoil that makes Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery the darkest and most emotional chapter in the series yet.

O’Connor shows all the reverse qualities in The Mastermind, which in many ways feel like a parody of the slick anti-heroes in classic caper films like Out of Sight or Thief. The Mastermind examines the egocentric nature of an overconfident character who believes himself to be the hero of a heist film, even though he doesn’t have the foresight to know what to do in an intense scenario. James Blaine Mooney is a fascinating character because his crimes are motivated by a desire to do something with his life, as he’s constantly told that he’s a disappointing son and an absent father. Although O’Connor has a light touch that makes James far more pathetic than he is malicious, it is nonetheless quite amusing to see him face the consequences of his ignorance and lack of preparation. While The Mastermind is just as pointed and detail-oriented as any of Reichardt’s other work, O’Connor’s mischievous sense-of-humor makes it her funniest film to date.

Josh O’Connor Has Been in Some Under-The-Radar Gems

The relevancy that a film ends up having can often be unexpected, and Rebuilding ended up hitting much harder than anticipated due to the devastating wildfires earlier this year. Although it is set in Colorado, Rebuilding gave O’Connor the chance to show empathy for all those who had lost part of their livelihoods as a result of fires that destroyed their homes. It’s an incredibly slow, patient film in which O’Connor plays a man deeply connected to the land that he grew up in, proving that natural disasters destroy much more than personal property. Although the concept of a “contemporary western” is often associated with crime and action films, O’Connor shows how the perception of an American cowboy has changed in an era where the nomadic lifestyle is less common. Rebuilding is also a terrific family drama that examines a unique case in which a separated couple still has empathy for one another; the dynamic he shares with Meghann Fahy adds a layer of authenticity that makes the story feel even more profound.

The History of Sound is the least well-known of O’Connor’s 2025 films, but the patient period romance exists as the type of old-fashioned melodrama that the industry rarely makes anymore. The History of Sound explores a series of vignettes within the lives of two men both before and after World War I as they share a romantic relationship, despite knowing that their love will not be accepted. It’s far too often that LGBTQ romance films are focused on shame and pain, and The History of Sound finds beauty within the brief instances in which O’Connor and Paul Mescal’s characters are able to preserve memories of one another. While it’s a film that may be a bit too restrained for its own good, The History of Sound showed O’Connor’s ability to elevate the material.

Whether or not he ends up receiving any significant award nominations is superfluous, as O’Connor is in the rare position in which he may end up competing with himself. The performances he gave are strong enough that they will be remembered for years to come. O’Connor won’t have to worry about being underexposed, considering that he’s the lead of the upcoming Steven Spielberg film. Great acting is often reduced to the lengths to which someone can physically transform themselves, but O’Connor was able to subtly alter his mannerisms in order to appear in a twisty mystery thriller, a grounded modern western, a satirical heist caper, and a classical period romance. He’s an actor whose willingness to keep challenging himself has made him an ideal collaborator for the industry’s top filmmakers.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is currently streaming on Netflix.