John Wick: Chapter 4 is less than a year away from being released, but fans are already anticipating John Wick 5. Of course, there hasn’t been much information on the fifth installment since its home studio Lionsgate put it on the back burner. With little to no updates, John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski recently spoke about what’s happening with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick 5.
The status of John Wick 5 has remained in limbo ever since Lionsgate announced it had abandoned the plans to film John Wick 4 and 5 back-to-back. While he’s received numerous fan questions about the fifth installment, Chad Stahelski placed the lack of news on the studio about the film’s progress. It appeared the franchise director was ready to do another one as he gave Collider some insight into John Wick 5 ‘s status.
[As of right] now it is the studio’s [full] intention to continue the franchise. And look, I’m not going to we’ve all seen directors and producers where they go, ‘Yes. I don’t know. I guess I’ll do five,’ or it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah.’ And I’m just, ‘Look, man. ‘John Wick 1’ was a goof. We made it as a fun little action movie that we’d like to see.” And the fact that now nine years later, it’s changed our lives. It changed my life. It changed Keanu’s life. It’s changed a lot of other people’s lives. And people still want to see more.
It is impressive that fans are still clamoring for more John Wick after almost a decade of Keanu Reeves killing countless bad guys. Stahelski seemed ready to continue the franchise until viewers are tired of the deadly hitman. But it appears the ball is in Lionsgate’s court now as they have yet to give an official start on production despite greenlighting John Wick 5 in 2020. As the director pointed out the first film unexpectedly birthed a high-action franchise and changed the trajectory of multiple careers, including Reeves.
While moviegoers await news on the fifth installment, this doesn’t mean the director and his leading man won’t be brainstorming the next film. Stahelski revealed he and Keanu Reeves probably won’t hash out the sequel’s storyline until the press tour for John Wick 4 begins. Each film has been formulated over glasses of Japanese whiskey at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
Maybe the assassin will go to space for the next film even as Chad Stahelski contemplates his future with the action franchise. But the John Wick director did mention he and Reeves are willing to make more John Wick films until they physically can’t anymore. The Matrix star has opened up about his ideas for finding new and interesting ways to make the character suffer more among other things.
That doesn’t mean fans do have anything to look forward to with John Wick: Chapter 4. They can look forward to a reunion between Reeves and 47 Ronin co-star Hiroyuki Sanada as the Bullet Train star teased a history with Reeves’ hero in the upcoming sequel. Viewers got a little preview of their relationship in the intense John Wick 4 trailer that showed the assassin waging war on The High Table.
Until viewers get an update of John Wick 5, they still have John Wick: Chapter 4 to look forward to next year. The fourth installment will arrive in theaters on March 24, 2023. In the meantime, there are upcoming movies set to arrive for the rest of 2022 to preoccupy them until then.