Following last month’s news that John Wick 5 is official and Keanu Reeves had signed on to “give John’s story the proper next step,” franchise director Chad Stahelski has begun to tease what fans can expect from the film — and it sounds like things are going to be different this time around.
How different? “Really different,” Stahelski told Empire magazine, now that the High Table storyline from John Wick 1-4 had come to an end.
Warning! Spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 follow.
John Wick appears to die at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4 after, once again, defeating the bad guys. We even get to see John Wick’s gravestone, with Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) saying their farewells. But, crucially, we only see John Wick collapse from his injuries and appear to die.
So, how can Reeves continue as Wick? We don’t have story details yet, but do know that John Wick 5 will tell a new story that involves the titular character.
“The saga of John Wick was pretty wrapped up,” Stahelski told Empire. “So the only way to do a 5 is to have a new story that involves John Wick. It’s not a continuation with the High Table. John dealt with his grief. It will be really different, and everybody [will] see the trailer and go, ‘Holy fuck… I gotta see that.’ ”
It’s a busy time for the billion dollar John Wick franchise. In addition to the four mainline films, the John Wick Universe, as it’s called, includes two spinoff films (Ballerina, to be released June 6, and a spinoff directed by and starring Donnie Yen reprising his Caine character, set to start production this summer).
In addition, Lionsgate Television produced The Continental: From the World of John Wick for Peacock and Amazon Prime, and Lionsgate confirmed it’s developing the TV series John Wick: Under the High Table, which Stahelski and Keanu Reeves are executive producing. There’s an animated prequel film that will tell the story of John Wick’s ‘Impossible Task,’ too.
It sounds like the John Wick animated film and the Under The High Table TV series will help build into John Wick 5. “The John Wick TV show and the animation are big priorities,” Stahelski said. “Our idea is to try some things and explore some threads and use those two properties to catapult us forward into the ideas for John 5.”
Outside TV and films, Lionsgate recently opened an immersive John Wick experience in Las Vegas and has a John Wick AAA video game in the works.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
