If you haven’t seen “John Wick: Chapter 4,” then you should probably skip this article. Long story short, there’s still no decision about whether or not a fifth film is being made. That said, if you have seen the latest installment of the franchise, you know there’s a very good reason why there’s questions about the future of the film series. And according to one of the producers, that’s due to Keanu Reeves insisting that the fourth film be the last… for now.
In a new interview with Collider, “John Wick” producer Basil Iwanyk talked about the end of ‘Chapter 4,’ which *spoiler alert* saw the title character apparently dying after fulfilling his long revenge mission. The producer admits that for the last three ‘Wicks,’ Reeves has been begging the filmmakers to kill off his character due to how intense the production is for the star.
“After the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movie, making these films is so exhausting and it destroys Keanu, physically and emotionally,” Iwanyk said. “By the end, he’s always like, ‘I can’t do this again,’ and we agree with him. The guy is just a shell of himself because he just goes off and goes for it. He was like, ‘I wanna be definitively killed at the end of this movie.’ We were like, ‘You know, we’ll leave a 10% little opening.’”
So, even the producer admitted that there’s still a reasonable chance that John Wick will rise from the grave. Even though they appeased their star, Iwanyk wanted to make sure to at least leave the door cracked open on the possibility of a return.
But much like what has been said by Chad Stahelski, the director of the four ‘Wick’ films, the decision to come back for a fifth film would be entirely story-driven. Obviously, Lionsgate and everyone involved would love to see another movie because of how much money they make at the cinema. However, Iwanyk said that the decision to make a fifth film is totally up to Reeves and Stahelski. He likens the dynamic to The Beatles.
“We’ve all become such good friends and we all like each other so much and we’re all so tickled by the success of these movies, critically and commercially that we all think to ourselves, ‘Okay, how do we get the band back together, in a way that merits a good story in the next evolution of John,’” said the producer. “At this point, it’s Keanu and Chad [Stahelski] getting together to figure out what that story is. The way I describe it is that they’re like Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and I’m Ringo. They’ll call me and let me know, ‘All right, we’re showing up. Here’s where you show up, and here’s what our story is.’”
Look, the desire for a fifth film is obvious from everyone other than Reeves and Stahelski. The actor is getting up there in age and though he looks like he hasn’t aged a day since 1994, he has, and ultimately, it has to be a damn good story to get him to dust off the handguns and suit for another adventure.
In the meantime, you can watch “The Continental,” which debuts on Peacock later this week.