Warning: Spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 to follow.
It only took the world of John Wick four films to accomplish it, but Chapter 4 finally saw the eponymous hitman meet his demise after dropping an astronomical number of bodies since 2014. It was effectively self-sacrifice, but the mere idea of the title hero’s death is enough to shock many a system on its own, let alone actually becoming part of the canon.
We still have prequel stories Ballerina and The Continental to fall back on, as well as other tales that will no doubt rear their heads in the coming years, but with Chapter 5 still on the table, one has to wonder how the mainline franchise can possibly move forward without Keanu Reeves’ one-man army leading the charge.
And we mean “has to wonder” in every sense of the word, because even Chad Stahelski, the directorial mastermind behind the saga, has no idea where Chapter 5 could go from here. In an interview with ScreenRant, the director opened up about how – even without Wick’s death in Chapter 4 – the road to the fifth film would involve quite a bit of detached introspection on his part, which he hopes will translate into the best possible film when the time finally comes.
“I don’t know what John Wick 5 is right now. I may have thoughts, ideas, and fragments of stuff, but I think I need a little time to breathe and see how this one does. I just need time to process that, grow creatively, and work my craft in probably some other fields. [Then] I’ll take what I learned and maybe make something better than I’ve already done. My biggest goal is that [hopefully] you love them all, but that hopefully you see the evolution.”
As much as it pains us to do so, we’re going to rule out the possibility of zombie John Wick being the focal point of the fifth film, so the question remains; how do you continue the John Wick story without its figurehead? We’ll patiently wait until Stahelski’s ready to offer that answer, and with a mythos as rich as the one that he and his creative team have built together, we’re sure there’s a satisfying answer in there somewhere.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theaters.
