THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING OF JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4
The John Wick franchise has been an absolutely massive success and with the newest entry things are only looking better when it comes to the box office. Normally, this would be great news for a franchise, because there would all but certainly be more movies coming. But if you’ve seen John Wick: Chapter 4, then you know that doesn’t seem likely, and it turns out Lionsgate had a problem with the ending for exactly that reason.
The John Wick franchise has been the biggest thing going at Lionsgate since the end of The Hunger Games movies, and while that franchise is getting a new entry, it’s not exactly a shock to learn that the studio was not a fan of the plan to end John Wick with Chapter 4. As it turns out, there was a lot of colorful language used by the powers that be when they saw how the script for the new movie ended. Director Chad Stahelski tells THR…
The response was, ‘What are you fucking thinking?’ The note was, ‘Are you fucking insane?’ And Keanu and I just smiled and said, ‘Yeah.’ We decided we wanted to tie everything together, and we were like, ‘How do you give a proper goodbye?’ So that’s how we sold it to the studio because, at some point, this has gotta end, man.
It’s certainly true that, at some point, the franchise has to end, but it was more than a little surprising that the decision was made to end it now, especially considering that at one point not only was there a plan to make John Wick: Chapter 5, but it was going to go into production immediately following Chapter 4. However, in the last several months, there has been a lot less talk about John Wick: Chapter 5, and now we know why.
While the studio may have eventually come around to the idea of killing off John Wick, the ending is ambiguous enough that if they eventually did change their minds and wanted to make another, they could certainly do so. And it’s even possible that those conversations have already started. Word is that following the opening weekend of John Wick: Chapter 4, Lionsgate is reportedly already revisiting the idea of making another movie in the main John Wick series. Of course, if the franchise star and director are happy where they left things, it seems unlikely that will happen.
Whether or not that happens, we know that John Wick, as a franchise will continue. We’re getting a Continental spinoff series as well as the Ballerina movie starring Ana de Armas. And Keanu Reeves will appear, so John Wick will be back.
