Imagine a world where Don Johnson’s role in Knives Out was taken on by Thomas Haden Church. Believe it or not, this was a possibility.

In a conversation with DECIDER about his upcoming role in the second season of Netflix’s Tires, Haden Church revealed that while he will soon appear in the franchise’s third movie, Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which is set to hit Netflix in December, he was once considered for a role in Rian Johnson’s original film.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home actor almost brought to life Richard Drysdale, the husband of Jamie Lee Curtis’s character Linda Drysdale, who is caught in infidelity. The first installment chronicles Detective Benoit Blanc’s (Daniel Craig) efforts to crack the case surrounding the suspicious death of Linda’s cherished father, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a successful mystery author.

“I almost did the first one, I came very, very close on the first one, [it was] between me and Don Johnson to do the first one,” Haden Church said while speaking about his relationship with Netflix. “And I met and had a really great interview with Rian back then. And he told me, he said, ‘I’m going to keep my eye out for you.’ And sure enough, it was like a year ago in April, they were just like, ‘Hey, Rian Johnson wants to talk to you.’”

“We jumped on a Zoom and had a great meeting and I had already read the script which was high-security. And then we got on and had a great talk about the script and the character and just the whole interface of the characters, and he just was like, ‘Why don’t you come over to London and do it? Let’s have some fun,’” he added.

And fun was had, Haden Church says, thanks in no small part to the all-star cast including Josh O’Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Darryl McCormack, Glenn Close, and Josh Brolin, just to name a few. Additionally, the Tires actor said that jumping into the project with the cast was one o the easiest and most organic jobs he’s ever worked on.

Of course, along with the cast of newcomers for the sequel to Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is Craig, who reprises his role as the incredibly astute and incredibly southern detective. As for what type of crime he will be investigating, that is still under wraps. Netflix only recently released the first look and a release date for the movie, which will debut in December.

All in all, Haden Church told DECIDER that even after decades in the business of entertaining people on TV and in movies, it feels good to know a role and a project can excite and surprise him. Oh, and those are two words he would absolutely use to describe the movie.

“I’m very proud of it. Very, very proud of it. It’s an intriguing story, an intriguing character, it’s not like anything I’ve ever done, that’s for sure,” he elaborated. “That was really a wonderful, wonderful experience with Rian Johnson. And that was a tremendous experience. For these things to come along, we’re fixing to turn 65. And for these things to come along, you know, fairly sort of later in my career, it’s a treasure. They’re treasures.”

Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery hits Netflix on December 12.