Regardless of how Chapter 4 ended, nobody was really buying into the notion that the John Wick franchise was anywhere close to reaching the finish line. Of course, with a feature-length spinoff and episodic prequel series already on the way, we’re officially in the property’s cinematic universe era, and producer Erica Lee has plenty of ideas for what comes next.
The biggest – and most obvious – question facing Lionsgate and the key creative team is whether or not audiences will be anywhere near as receptive to any project that doesn’t feature Keanu Reeves’ sharp-suited assassin. That’s been remedied on the big screen via a cameo appearance in Ballerina, but when The Continental has no familiar faces and the added presence of controversy magnet Mel Gibson, the jury remains out for now.
However, thanks to the intricate world-building and deep lore revolving around the contract killing underworld, Lee could barely stop herself from spouting countless potential destinations for the future of John Wick in an interview with SlashFilm.
“We’re definitely developing more spin-offs. And I think it’s asking, “What are the characters that stand out in the films, that pop, that have an interesting story to tell, who are still alive?” We kill a lot of people. Yeah, and also, what are the aspects of the world? The Continental was something we always were really interested in.
The Bowery King and the Underground, what is that world like? I think that Rina Sawayama’s character of Akira is really fascinating. These are just things I personally would love to explore. Now that John Wick 4 will be out in the world, I think even more ideas will start flowing. Yeah, I mean, the dogs.
Where do the dogs come from? Where do the Tracker — and Sofia, Halle Berry’s character, has dogs in John Wick 3, so that’s always fascinating to me. Where do these dogs come from? How do you get them? What is a tracker? Where is he trained? I don’t know. These are just things we think about and talk about.”
There are plenty of candidates you could envision headlining a solo adventure, but the real test would be whether people turned up en masse to see it firsthand. Reeves and the Wick brand are virtually indistinguishable at this point, but with another spinoff being announced within the next month or two, the bullets are going to keep flying regardless.