The original plan to film two John Wick sequels together didn't happen, and now director Chad Stahelski has revealed why.
While many John Wick fans were excited at the prospect of Chapters 4 and 5 filming back to back, that plan didn’t happen. It was assumed by many that one of the reasons was down to Covid delays and the studio just wanting to get something out without having to delay longer than necessary. As John Wick: Chapter 4 is now deep in post-production, there is a question of when John Wick: Chapter 5 might get underway. While there is no word on that just yet, director Chad Stahelski has revealed exactly why the plan around filming changed. He told ComicBook.com:
"It seems in the other franchises that have tried it, they just feel like the same thing done again, right? Like there's no new influence. Sometimes you need that creative breath to come up with fresh sh*t. Otherwise I'm stressed out about making two movies instead of one really good one. I'm just not that bright. I'm not that clever. I'm not that good as a director to project my vision years into the future and do two great movies.
I'm f*cking lucky if I can pull off a great act, let alone two great movies. The film morphs and John Wicks are very organic because we're location based. So to plan out, you know, 10 locations over the course of two years, it's tough. And I think that's kind of a rip off to the fans too. Like you're not getting me at my best. You get me when it's 200 days in a production, we're all hammered. The choreographers are putting out the same moves. You're bored.
Like this way, I change choreographers and I rotate stunt teams on literally every film and we're always trying to be creatively better. And we're trying to do do ourselves from last time. I think it would be unfair to our fan base and unfair to the property in general to just stretch it out in the sake of efficiency or financial or creative efficiency. I'd rather do it, take a breather, get our shit together, analyze our mistakes and see what worked and what didn't."
Related: Ana de Armas Brought in Emerald Fennell to Pen John Wick Spinoff Ballerina
The John Wick franchise is one of those that started out as a fun idea that managed to gain a lot of attention really quickly and alongside the main film series, there are two spin-offs currently in production.
The Continental is a prequel event mini-series that will act as a prequel to the movies and focus on the titular hotel and how it became the notorious location of choice for the criminal underworld. While the show is expected to feature younger versions of some well-known John Wick characters such as Winston, John Wick himself is seemingly not planned to appear.
The second spin-off is Ballerina, is expected to start filming this summer, with actress of the moment Ana de Armas taing on the lead role. Having already made an impact in No Time To Die and soon to be appearing as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix’ Blonde, de Armas will star as a young woman raised as an assassin who hunts the hitmen who killed her family. With the character having a strong connection to the same crime syndicate as Wick, there are plenty of rumors that Keanu Reeves could make a cameo in the movie.
Anthony Lund is an author, songwriter and puppeteer from a small village in the U.K. with an avid love of all genres of TV and film. As well as keeping up with the lastest entertainment news and writing about it for MovieWeb, he works as a video editor, voice over artist and production designer. A child of the 80s, he is the owner of almost 2000 books, more toys than his children, three Warner Bros. Store Gremlins and a production used Howard The Duck movie script.