‘John Wick 5’: Chad Stahelski Says They Haven’t Cracked The “Why” To Make It As Studio Confirms Writing On Sequel Has Started

In this week’s upcoming episode of The Discourse, your host, Mike D’Angelo, talks to “John Wick” franchise director Chad Stahelski, coming off the heels of “John Wick: Chapter 4.”

Stahelski already revealed to us that another “John Wick” TV show was in the works—one that he was involved with and overseeing this time and a “John Wick” anime project as well. And during the conversation, Stahelski talked about “John Wick 5,” which he was still game for but unsure of.

READ MORE: ‘John Wick’: Chad Stahelski Says A More Cinematic, Non-‘Continental’ TV Show Is In The Works, As Is An Anime Project

Since then, just a few days later and just this past weekend, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Joe Drake confirmed in a quarterly earnings call that the end of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA Hollywood strikes mean that work on “John Wick 5” could resume (via CBR).

“On the ‘Wick’ side, we got multiple spin-offs and Wick Five,” Drake revealed. “We started to work on (it) right when the writer’s strike started, and we’ve gotten back to work as soon as it ended.”

While that news certainly points to a film in development, what Stahelski told us suggests that he and Keanu Reeves would have to sign off on the idea first. Let’s not forget Stahelski also said to us that news of “John Wick 4” and “John Wick 5” shooting back to back was surprise news to him, even as was the director of both, so it may not be the first time Lionsgate was premature with announcing something that didn’t come to pass.

Presumably, they’re involved in the discussions, but hearing it from Stahelski sounds like they need to crack the code and the “why” we should make this before they actually agree to it. In short, it sounds like they live off the passion for it and need a real reason to make it, not just a finished screenplay. It has to be something they believe in and want to make. Here’s what Stahelski has to say about “John Wick 5,” a conversation from a week ago where he still wasn’t sure what the story or movie was.

The conversation started with Stahelski being asked if he minded being “pigeonholed” into ‘John Wick’ movies, especially since they are so arduous and physically exhausting.

“No, again, it’s pretty crazy, right? Because, like, you think you’re going to have one where you’re like, ‘I’ll never fucking do that. I’m good,’ but like, I don’t mind being pigeonholed. I don’t,” he began. “

“I don’t think Keanu does either. If all I did were make ‘John Wicks’ for the rest of my career and could have the same success, it’d be awesome. Like, ‘cool, man.’ You’re not going to see us go, ‘Oh no!’ I’m not this guy that’s like, ‘I was going to spread wings!’ Look, I can spread my wings fine in ‘John Wick’ movies and all that stuff. My point is that Keanu and I are both very thankful. We’re shocked. We can’t believe people want to see more like we’re doing them for us. We’re doing them for fans. We’re doing for what we love; if people love them, that’s great.”

Stahelski also beat down talk that Reeves said he’d never want to make another ‘John Wick’ movie after concluding one and said the desire to find a compelling reason why we should make another one must be found before they go off and make another installment.

“So, to get done with ‘John Wick 4’ and have, you know, all the outlets and all the fans come back and say, ‘Well, what’s next? What’s going on?’ That’s pretty cool. I mean, ask any director – to have a studio come back and actually ask you for more of what you do, to give you more support. Like, I can’t explain how rare that is,” he explained.

“So, that’s quite flattering, and that’s really cool. I’ve never heard Keanu go, ‘I’d never do another John Wick. I’m good.’ Like, he’s all about the why. Suppose we had a why to make it, like ‘John Wick is here because…’ and you have a why. Or why would it interest us? We’d go into production tomorrow [on ‘John Wick 5’]—and we don’t have the why [yet], but we, [Keanu] and I—you’ve heard us both say we’ll never say never. Look, if we come up with a good idea, great.”

And this is where you think, well, maybe Lionsgate is hoping for a writer that can crack the code to present to them, but that’s unclear. Either way, the filmmaker said he has an appetite to try new things and do more ‘John Wick’ films when the good ideas present themselves.

“Do I want to try other stuff? Yeah. But do I want to do another ‘John Wick’? Yeah, we’d love to. It’s just to put the crews, stunts, and cast through so much pain and suffering — I just want a probability of success,” he said. “Meaning that if it interests me as an audience member, I can separate those two, right? But when I watch a movie, I want certain things. I want to love what I’m watching. If I had a way to why I’d love it, I would go because I feel like I have a responsibility now—because it’s not my movie anymore. It’s not Keanu’s franchise anymore. It’s a lot of the fans. It’s like any good franchise— like with ‘Star Wars.’ You, as an audience member or as a reviewer, you take ownership of what you love. They all do.”

“So, the fourth one’s now like, ‘Oh wow, it’s not just mine; it’s grown so big that you have a responsibility to the franchise, to the property, to the character, to the audience to do something great,” he said of the obligation of delivering something amazing for audiences. “So, if we knew we were doing something great, yeah, I’d go suffer again for a couple of years, for sure. I have no problem. We just haven’t quite cracked that one yet.”

Look for the entire Discourse podcast conversation with Chad Stahelski tomorrow.