‘John Wick 5’: Lionsgate Adamant Fifth Movie Still In Development Despite The Baba Yaga’s “Death”

“John Wick Chapter 4” ended with quite a thud as audiences were under the impression that Wick had perished from his dueling wounds, but Lionsgate says they’re still pressing on with development on “John Wick 5” with director Chad Stahelski newly minted as the franchise overseer and sound like they’re not even sure if the infamous assassin is truly dead.

Jenefer Brown, EVP and Head of Global Products & Experiences at Lionsgate, recently spoke with ComicBook and reiterated their plans to keep on developing “John Wick 5” while also being coy about the finality of Wick’s “death” in the franchise (Keanu Reeves will be appearing in the spinoff “Ballerina” which takes place before the events of the fourth film).

READ MORE: ‘John Wick’: Donnie Yen To Return As Caine For A Spinoff Film

“This world continues to grow and expand in incredible ways,” Brown said of the hit action franchise’s future. “Up next, of course, we have ‘Ballerina,’ which is our first spinoff movie, and [we] can’t wait for that to release to the world. We’ve announced we’re working on a fifth John Wick film. I think there are more spinoffs to come, a TV series, video game.”

When pressed, Brown seemed to tease Wick could be coming back in some form despite his off-screen death, “We’ve shared that we’re developing a fifth John Wick film … [John Wick] may be [dead]. We are all on bated breath waiting to find out.”

Shahelski has been trying to get his “Highlander” reboot off the ground at the studio after there were signs last year that with British actor Henry Cavill (“The Witcher”) cast in a lead role, they would be able to finally get cameras rolling. That simply hasn’t happened since the filmmaker was helping with reshoots on the Ana de Armas spinoff “Ballerina” along with developing a slew of other features such as “Rainbow Six” with Michael B. Jordan reprising the John Clark role (we’re thinking that could get offloaded on another director), and a gestating samurai epic based on the hit PlayStation video game, “Ghost of Tsushima.”

There is also an expectation that Stahelski will be involved, somewhat, with Donnie Yen‘s “Caine” spinoff which was planned to begin shooting sometime this year in Hong Kong.

Will the Wick death scene ultimately be a fake-out? The creatives and studio certainly left that option open or they can simply do more stories that take place between the events of “John Wick Chapter 4.”

Support independent movie journalism to keep it alive. Sign up for The Playlist Newsletter. All the content you want and, oh, right, it’s free.

“Ballerina” will hit theaters on June 6, so fans of the franchise won’t have to wait too long to see that world further explored on the big screen.