‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ confirmed to feature another canine action hero

Superman has his cape, Rain Man has his toothpicks and John Wick has his dogs. In case you thought that was going to change for the fourth installment of the Keanu Reeves-led action franchise, you are mistaken.

While the first dog Daisy the Beagle was incredibly cute and mostly harmless, but by the time we got to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum the dogs became instruments of death. It looks like that deadly dog trajectory will continue in the latest film.

Franchise director Chad Stahelski spoke to Collider recently and talked about what that’s going to look like in the new movie. The first thing we learn from the interview is that the latest dog is a she, but there were a lot of dogs (“three females and two male dogs to comp all one dog together”) needed to just have the one on film.

It was also crucial to make sure the relationship between the dogs and stunt people were solid. Because dogs are emotional creatures, they need to feel safe and also have a relationship with who they’re working with on a daily basis. Fortunately, that meant some stunt teams just got to play with the dogs all day.

“You have to get to know your friends. So in order for the dog to be very playful, and safe, and have the confidence just like a human would, they have to spend time with each individual stunt guy. So we had to rotate every hour. One of our 10 main stunt team guys would go and play. That was his job. He had to go play with the dogs, and get tackled by the dogs, and play Frisbee with the dog. So you get acclimated to our canine friend and then that’s how we started working it.”

The original John Wick came out in 2014 and became a surprise smash hit. People loved Reeves tough but caring portrayal of Wick and his love of canines. In the trailer for the new film, we see Wick facing off against Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) in win-or-die combat.

The new movie “uncovers a path to defeating the High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.” Looks like there are going to be explosions in this one.

John Wick: Chapter 4 slides into theaters on March 24.