‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ is getting a director’s cut

John Wick: Chapter 4 is officially getting a director’s cut. Yes, you read the headline right. I’ll wait for your action-loving brain to explode. All done?

If watching Keanu Reeves creatively kill dozens of faceless thugs for almost three hours wasn’t good enough, now it looks like we’ll be getting at least fifteen more minutes — according to director Chad Stahelski. In a recent interview with ComicBookMovie.com, Stahelski sat down for an in-depth discussion on his biggest film yet.

To describe John Wick: Chapter 4 as an epic conclusion might be an understatement. As the longest film in the franchise, John Wick: Chapter 4 served as a fitting end for Keanu’s grizzled dog-loving assassin. Still, fans couldn’t help but think that there might have been more left in the proverbial tank when it came to the movie’s overall runtime.

Sure, it was almost three hours long, but when it comes to Mr. Wick — how could that ever be a bad thing? When asked whether there was an official director’s cut of the film floating around out there somewhere, Stahelski spilled the beans:

“Yeah, I’ve been working on the Director’s Cut, the extended cut, which we’ve almost finished. There’s about another, I think, 10 to 15 minutes we put back in. We cut out a big chunk of Berlin, a whole character called The Frau, which is a pretty funny scene with John, and another scene between him and Tracker, a few other little action beats that we put back in. I mean, yeah, there’s always stuff we take out because it doesn’t fit the pacing.”

Fifteen minutes? More Berlin? A whole NEW character? Does anyone have a paper bag I can breath into? There’s a reason this franchise has made one billions dollars — it’s absolutely badass. More than that, John Wick has a huge heart. These movies have cultivated a mythos unlike any on the silver screen, and we might get to see a bit more of it before it’s all said and done.

Going on to explain his decision for cutting that extra fifteen minutes in the first place, Chad spoke plainly about how adding any more time to his opus changed the pace, and not necessarily in a good way.

“I think the stuff is all super quality, I love the choreo, I love the characters. It just didn’t – as a whole, it changed the pace of the film, and I didn’t think I could get, you know, two hour and 38 minute film in there of it felt slow. I think we got away with it because it felt driven, it felt like it was very purposeful, and I didn’t want to upset that pace. And, if it has to go, it has to go.”

For the sake of the average movie-going audience and attention spans everywhere, we get it, cut what you need to. As far as anyone at home is concerned though, bring it on. Who cares if it makes the movie feel slower? I want to savor every punch — and frankly, so do you. Be good. Stay crazy. Tell your friends!