With John Wick: Chapter 4 quickly approaching its release date, with a delectable box office projection to boot, the Keanu Reeves-led action franchise will no doubt continue to assert itself as a heavyweight of the serialized blockbuster department, and as the titular assassin’s never-ending bloodshed unfolds into more and more unfinished business, one may wonder if John Wick will ever get his Hollywood ending.
If so, it won’t be any time soon; even after Chapter 4 makes its rounds at the box office, the John Wick mythos will be far from over. Reeves has already sung his praises for the Ana de Armas-led spinoff film Ballerina, which will see the actor reprise his role as as the trigger-happy focal point of the franchise, and The Continental, a prequel miniseries focusing on the network of hotels/havens for the world’s most dangerous assassins, is due on Peacock later this year.
And, of course, John Wick 5 looks to still be firmly in the pipeline, but with long-time franchise helmer Chad Stahelski playing coy on whether he’ll be back for it, the road to the fifth film might be more of a slow crawl than we’re used to.
In an interview with /Film, Stahelski revealed that his priorities lie with nurturing his creative side through exposure and practice, which has always allowed him to come back to the franchise time and time again to marked success.
“Every time I come back to a ‘Wick,’ there’s been two or three years in between. That’s a lot of time for a human. You know how many pieces of art or music or museums or locations I’ve gone to in three years? Huge. I mean, think of what you do in a year. What would you do in three? Don’t you think all that would influence you? I just don’t think I’d be very good jumping right into something. I need a little bit of time to get better. I’ve got to go practice.”
In the case of John Wick 5, though, the best way to nurture that might just be to stray off the path of the action franchise altogether for a bit, an act that may result in the project moving forward without him.
“I’ve got to get better. Keanu’s out there every day getting better — he’s acting, he’s trying new projects. I’ve got to sit in a room and go, ‘Okay, how do I get better as a director?’ I don’t have the same choices. I can’t just direct, direct, direct. I’d have no time to expand. I just think, in loyalty to the franchise, I need to get a hell of a lot better before I try to find [another story].”
It may be a hard wait, but we’ll happily shell out our patience if it means Stahelski can give an extra dose of indulgence to his creative process, which has resulted in three endorphin-sparking films so far. We can only hope that Lionsgate can show him the same courtesy.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will release to theaters on March 24.
