The John Wick series was originally supposed to end with a cliffhanger.
After making John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, director Chad Stahelski thought that the perfect place to leave the saga would be with Keanu Reeves’ hitman once again on the run, teasing a cycle that would be repeated indefinitely for the rest of his life.
But as the filmmaker always finds out, his plans to end the franchise are short-lived, with Stahelski being dragged kicking and screaming back to the Continental before long.
Lionsgate
As he explained to Zavvi: “We’ve said that each film will be the last one every time and each time we think we mean it – only we really do mean it this time!
“The reason I keep coming back is that I love reuniting with our team – I can’t stress just how incredible it is to get back together and keep creating a world with people who love what you love.
“But we get exhausted and feel we’ve stretched to what is the best possible version of this story – and then, a couple of months later, you find that John Wick is still rattling around your head”.
If John Wick: Chapter 4 truly is the epic conclusion to the saga, then Stahelski is leaving us on a high, a pretty impressive feat for a franchise that has crossed continents (and Continentals) as Wick’s vengeance mission has continually pulled him deeper into a criminal underworld that wants him dead.
This time the consequences for his killing spree sees him attracting the ire of the High Table, with the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) visiting New York to officially “condemn” the city’s branch of the Continental Hotel, blowing it to smithereens as he targets Wick’s old allies.
Lionsgate
Yes, hotel manager Winston (Ian McShane) may have shot his old friend in the last movie, but as long as the Baba Yaga is alive, none of his former associates remain safe, no matter how estranged they are.
Soon enough the High Table sends Wick’s former ally, Donnie Yen’s blind assassin Caine, on an international trip to take him down, but there is an unlikely path Wick has to follow to end the bloodshed, redeem himself, and live his life as a free man once again.
Without spoiling this, we can reveal that it involves carnage on a scale unprecedented even for this franchise.
Lionsgate
As Stahelski points out, the thing that motivates his return to the world of Wick every time is the lack of restraint – they’re inventing this universe in real time, meaning there are no rules the movies have to stick to.
“The fact that we’re an original property means we have no limitations – this isn’t an existing IP with superpowers, we get to make our own rules.
“This means we can always switch things up to pay tribute to what we love: we’ll say ‘let’s take a Wong Kar-wai film, mix it up with a Sergio Leone film, then add in ninjas on motorcycles… and a dog’.
Lionsgate
“The fact we have this creative freedom to use these movies to explore everything we love about cinema, for John Wick himself to channel everyone from Lee Marvin in Point Blank to Steve McQueen in Bullitt, is an amazing opportunity. It’s what keeps drawing us back in!”
However, this wasn’t the only aspect that tempted Stahelski back for round three, despite his initial belief that a cliffhanger would be the ideal ending.
“It became apparent on the press tour for the last film that we still had a few ideas. We didn’t feel satisfied with the way that all of them had come out and so, we started thinking about a way that we could tie all three movies together.
Lionsgate
“We’d never actually thought of the three movies as being a ‘trilogy”‘, so we were just driven by finding a way to tie all of those stories into one.
“I’ll leave whether it’s ‘bigger and better’ for the audience to decide, but it was certainly more logistically challenging!”
This globe-trotting adventure does see the franchise go out with a bang, with some of the most spectacularly choreographed fight sequences yet, building towards a jaw-dropping final act that takes us to a final showdown in Paris – a battle that’s almost a relief considering the insane build-up to it.
Lionsgate
Arriving in Paris, Wick finds himself even more of a target than ever before, as the High Table pull out every trick in the book to stop him showing up for a fight they know he’ll likely win.
At one point, this involves car chases and fist-fights in the heart of the city, right underneath the Arc de Triomphe. It’s one of the most staggering set-pieces in the franchise’s history, but for Stahelski, it was just one of several logistical challenges.
“The Arc de Triomphe was the most challenging to shoot, but then so is every big sequence: shooting in a dance club with 40 waterfalls or filming a fight with 20 guys holding nun-chucks right next to mirrored glass – it’s all a challenge.
Lionsgate
“But my favourite fight sequences are actually the little moments: I love seeing Rina Sawayama as Akira climb up a guy twice her size or Keanu with the nun-chucks.
“Of course, we’re very proud of the Arc de Triomphe sequence and the top shot that comes a bit afterwards, but that pride is more about the behind-the-scenes experience of what it took to stage them – in the film itself, I like the quiet character moments such as the church scene with Donnie and Keanu the most.
“Our production designer Kevin Kavanaugh called that Arc de Triomphe fight scene the ‘Frogger scene’, which is what we came to call it on set.”
Lionsgate
Whilst Stahelski currently feels that the central John Wick saga has reached its conclusion, that doesn’t mean that we won’t see more of him on the screen.
Both Reeves and McShane are confirmed to star in Ballerina, a spin-off taking place between the events of the third and fourth films, starring Ana de Armas as ballerina-turned-assassin Rooney, who was previously played by Unity Phelan in Parabellum.
That film started shooting in Prague last November, with Len Wiseman (best known for the Underworld franchise) taking over in the director’s chair.
Lionsgate
Although he helped birth the franchise, Stahelski wants filmmakers coming on board to helm its various spin-offs to experience the same level of creative freedom he’s been afforded.
“Len joined us while we were in post-production and we said to him what we will say to any director who is making one of these ‘satellite projects’ – ‘you have the blessing of me and Keanu, and you’ve seen what we’ve done. Now it’s time to go do your own thing.’
“I think that’s the best way this world can keep on growing. It’s incredibly flattering when other filmmakers want to make something based on your film, so give them that blessing, tell them to go make it their own, and sit back and see what happens.
“I know Ian McShane has said that these films could continue for 10 more years – if that’s what the audience wants, then we’ll see…”
Lionsgate
The future of Wick’s world seems assured then, even as Chapter 4 brings his vengeance mission to the epic conclusion fans have been waiting for.
And at nearly three hours long, it truly is epic, so please take Stahelski’s advice: “Make sure you go to the bathroom before!”
Read our interview with Ian McShane and Rina Sawayama.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is released in UK cinemas on Friday 24th March.
