John Wick: Chapter 4might’ve seemingly ended the main saga ofKeanu Reeves’s titular badass after the retired hitman succumbed to his injuries in Paris, but the announcement thatJohn Wick 5was officially in developmentcertainly set the fanbase into speculation overdrive as the state of Reeves’s Wick was discussed. After first admitting that thefifth chapter would be “really different,“it seems that veteran directorChad Stahelskiis still only in the early stages of figuring out exactly how the puzzle pieces will all fit together in a satisfying and cohesive manner.
In an interview alongsideWick Is Painproducer and Narrator co-founderJosh Oreckwith Collider’sAidan Kelleyfor their John Wick documentary,WickIs Pain, Stahelski admitted that they “haven’t had that talk yet,” in reference to the fifth installment, adding,“We have an idea. We put a lot of time into these things. It takes up your life for three years, start to finish.“Alongside the confirmed upcoming spin-off centered aroundDonnie Yen’s Caine and an excitinganimated prequel feature, it seems that Stahelski is finding it difficult to find the time to fully prepare forJohn Wick 5, saying that the anime and spin-off are currently a “priority,” although it does help him stay inspired for futureJohn Wickstorylines. The truth is that, with the busy state of the franchise considered,John Wick 5could be quite some time away. Stahelski addressed this, saying:
“Do you want another John Wick 4 or do you want a John Wick 5? If you want a John Wick 5, you’re going to have to sit back a little bit and you have to let me and Keanu grow as human beings, experience some new shit and experiment with different styles, go to different places. You know, I’ve been traveling all over the world for almost a year and a half now, trying to come up with other places I love and things to do, and meeting people that I’m modeling characters after. If you want a new movie, if you want something fresh, you got to let us go experience fresh shit, and that’s how we build the movies.”
Stahelski then confirmed that it wasn’t in his nature to cheat his audience with quickfire sequels, even joking that he can’t just pull creative genius “out of my ass.” He told Collider:
“It’s not like, “Let me just sit down on my creative genius and pull it out of my ass.” Each movie that you see in John Wick is because we’ve experienced new things and we’ve grown as filmmakers and humans. We just need a little time to grow, and then I can put that into the next movie, and that’s why it’ll feel different. Have you ever watched a 2 or 3 or 4, and they all feel like the same fucking movie? That’s what we’ve been asked to do, like two and three at the same time or three and four at the same time. That’s cheating the audience. You’re making the same movie, you cut it in half, and you wait a year in between. We have been part of it. I’ve been part of it three times, and it doesn’t work like you’re asking too much out of everyone to output new, fresh ideas.”
Although some franchises tend to produce sequels at an alarmingly fast rate, for someone with this much care and attention forhis belovedJohn Wick, Stahelski is keen to make sure every aspect is up to his high standards before moving along in the process. Perfection takes time, and Stahelski was keen to acknowledge the reasoning behind the perhaps long wait forJohn Wick 5in the aforementioned interview.“What am I gonna do? Just hurry up and rush to get it done?“he quipped, adding, “You’ve seen the sequels, where they use the same cast over and over and over, the same side characters, the same plotlines. The reason we don’t do carryover plotlines is I don’t want it to be the same movie. I get bored, I won’t do that.” He then admitted he simply didn’t want to rip off the fans, aiming to stray as far away from “cash grab” status as possible. He continued:
“I just don’t want a cash grab out by going, “Oh, he’s not really dead. He’s this.” Until I got a cool way back in, I don’t want to rip you off because I don’t want to rip myself off. That’s all.”
John Wick 5remains in early development, with the next installment in the franchise,Ballerina,set to premiere in theaters on May 15. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
