‘We kind of let everybody down’: Chad Stahelski reveals how ‘John Wick 3’ was originally going to end the franchise

It’s a good thing Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have more gumption than they know what to do with, else we wouldn’t have been gifted the full form of one of the all-time finest action franchises in John Wick. With four movies under its belt, a fifth one in development, a spinoff film due next year, and a prequel miniseries set to grace Peacock next month, the John Wick mythos still remains a gold mine of untapped stories, and we’re thankful to be occupying the timeline where it didn’t stop at three movies.

That, of course, implies a timeline where John Wick did, in fact, call it quits after John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and it’s a timeline that apparently flirted quite dangerously with our own.

In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, Stahelski himself reminisced on the days when he and Reeves were all but certain that Parabellum would be John’s swansong, noting how a fatal end for the eponymous hitman was originally planned for Chapter 3 before logistics dictated a more open-ended ending.

“Keanu and I thought that doing a cool thing like a tragedy – everything over a long enough timeline is a tragedy – but wouldn’t it be cool if we found a cool way to balance out that John gave his life, and it became a five-hour movie. So we’re like ‘Okay, let’s just stick with what we know; we’ll have John do this, we’ll put Sophia in here, we do this, we do something cool,’ and we’ll kind of leave that open end where John has Winston, and we’ll leave it like ‘Okay, he’s gonna go after the High Table.’”

He would go on to reveal that the dubious would-be ending to the franchise quickly dashed any plans on pumping the brakes on John Wick, and the rest is history.

“And then we did the third movie, and then were really done, and then it was a year later, and we both felt like we kind of let everybody down on the ending of number three… People really like John, and so they’re like “What the f***, guys?’”

Of course, without spoiling anything if you somehow aren’t clued in to the ins and outs of Chapter 4, it’s hard to say where the mainline John Wick series could possibly go next, and let’s just say it’s no matter of wanting to quit while Stahelski and company are still ahead. Regardless of what lies ahead for Chapter 5, though, the franchise’s spinoff potential still remains as ripe as ever, so we doubt we’ll be faring the world of John Wick farewell any time soon.

Speaking of which, The Continental: From the World of John Wick, a three-episode miniseries that tells the story of how Winston seized control of New York City’s Continental Hotel, premieres on Peacock on Sept. 22, with later episodes releasing every Friday until the series finale on Oct. 6.