The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the end of John Wick: Chapter 4.
For four movies now, John Wick has been fighting an uphill battle. While he started out on a quest for revenge, ever since then he has simply been trying to keep himself alive, with an ever-increasing threat looming over his head. The last two movies gave us endings that clearly set up further adventures for Keanu Reeves’ character, but with John Wick: Chapter 4, we got what certainly can be a real ending, and it should be.
I love the John Wick movies. They are, without question my favorite modern action franchise, and so keep that in mind when I say I hope we’ve seen the last John Wick movie. While John Wick: Chapter 5 is technically possible, I prefer to see Chapter 4's ending as the franchise finale, and so I hope that’s what it becomes.
John Wick: Chapter 4’s Ambiguous Ending
John Wick: Chapter 4 sees our titular character take a long shot to ensure his survival by challenging the Marquis de Gramont to single combat, with the agreement that if he wins, The High Table will leave him be. Of course, if he dies, he’s also free, so either way, John Wick will get out. In the end, both things happen.
At the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, John Wick wins and kills the Marquis, but the injuries he sustains are significant, and his last words are to ask Ian McShane’s Winston to take him home before he collapses on the steps. Next, we see a headstone with John Wick’s name on it, right next to that of his departed wife.
The final lines of the film are given to Winston and Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King. They’re standing at the grave and talking about their old friend. They wonder where he is, specifically either heaven or hell, but it's also possible they're talking in a more figurative sense. Perhaps they know more than they are even willing to say out loud; perhaps John Wick isn’t dead after all.
This Was How The John Wick Movies Were Always Going To End
While the death of John Wick might not be completely definitive, it makes all the sense in the world that the new film would wrap up with that as the apparent ending, because it’s difficult to imagine these movies were ever going to end any other way. John Wick was one man fighting an entire system that wanted him dead, and as good as he was, the odds were just too stacked against him.
The goal for John Wick wasn’t to survive, it was simply to die on his own terms rather than those of the High Table. Wick was a man who had not known peace since his wife died, and the only way he was ever going to find it again was by being with her again. That’s exactly where we are now.
John Wick always said he was going to “kill them all” but I can’t imagine an ending where he actually did that being at all satisfying. Sure, it would, without question, give us even more excellent action sequences to enjoy, but in the end, it would leave a hollow feeling.
Making John Wick: Chapter 5 Would Only Damage This Perfect Ending
But as I said, the ending does leave open the possibility that John Wick isn’t actually dead. Perhaps he has just faked his death as an added level of protection against those who might try to draw him back to the world he has escaped for the second time. Perhaps something, like the events of the John Wick: Chapter 4 post-credits scene, might actually be enough to draw him back out and take up a weapon.
At one point, there was supposed to be John Wick: Chapter 5. The movie had been announced and given a release date, so we didn’t believe that Chapter 4 was ever going to be the end. But in recent days, there has clearly been less certainty there about another movie in the John Wick series, with attention now shifting to the Ballerina spinoff film.
I certainly hope there is no Chapter 5. As much as I’ll be first in line to see another John Wick movie if it happens since I love these movies, there’s just no way that the film series is going to be able to top this ending. In fact, it will only ever be able to do worse.
There's Nothing Left To Add In John Wick: Chapter 5
If John Wick does “come back from the dead” for another adventure or even more than one, there are only a couple of different ways that this story can still end. Either John Wick dies, definitively this time, or he somehow “wins,” defeating all the bad guys and ensuring the story is over because he’s literally killed everybody who could hurt him.
The first option just brings us right back to where we are right now, which ultimately makes adding more stories pointless. I have little doubt that the writers and filmmakers can come up with more stories to tell, and that they can choreograph incredible action sequences that blow us away. Still, if, in the end, John Wick just ends up in the same place he is now, his story has not progressed.
But at the same time, I can’t imagine any other ending that would leave me as satisfied as I am right now. Seeing John Wick walk away with his dog after beating all the bad guys isn’t what John Wick truly wants. He can live that way, but I’m not sure he’d ever be happy. As long as that’s the case, the potential for finding him right back in the firing line will always be there.
You can choose to believe that John Wick isn’t dead, and that he just wants the world to believe that he is. That’s fine, so long as we never see him again we can conjure any number of happy endings for him. Or we can believe he is dead, that the life he was in finally got him, as was all but certain to happen eventually. But either way, the way things are now, John Wick is done. He’s at rest, and he should be left to rest.
