It’s definite: Keanu Reeves will be returning for John Wick 5, with Lionsgate, with Chad Stahelski set to direct again. More here.
Lionsgate has been chasing this one ever since the release of John Wick: Chapter 4 in 2023 and finally, the studio has its man.
Keanu Reeves will return as the titular assassin in John Wick: Chapter 5. Given how things ended in the last film, many felt that the series had reached a natural end, but Lionsgate has pinned a significant part of its fortunes on the future successes of Wick, and so it was never going to let Reeves’ character simply step out of the spotlight.
Unsurprisingly, Chad Stahelski – the overseer of all things Wick at Lionsgate – will return, as will producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee. Stahelski will direct, with Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson using the studio’s CinemaCon presentation to tout the next film in the series as ‘ something truly phenomenal and fresh to say with these characters and this world. We can’t wait for audiences to see where the journey takes us next.”
Keanu Reeves himself has publicly downplayed the possibility of another Wick sequel, but as with all scenarios such as these, it’s impossible to tell if that’s because he was protecting trade secrets, improving his negotiating position, or simply speaking the honest truth at the time the question was put to him. What we do know is that Lionsgate will also be keen to stick the face of the franchise into as many spin-off projects as possible.
Read more: John Wick at 10 | Its writing story is one of extraordinary tenacity
We know that Keanu Reeves will be making an appearance in the upcoming The World Of John Wick: Ballerina, a title that is so clumsily phrased that it even surpasses Lucasfilm’s A Star Wars Story suffix that it tried to make happen a few years ago. Keanu Reeves will also be voicing the character in a newly-announced anime prequel which will tell the notorious part of the character’s background in which he does the ‘impossible’ job: ‘killing all of his rivals in one night to free himself from the High Table.’
There’s also the chance that Reeves might pop up in the Caine spin-off film, which was also confirmed at CinemaCon and will see Donnie Yen both directing and starring, reprising his role as the titular blind and charismatic assassin.
So Lionsgate got its way, and there appears to be plenty more Wick in the offing, beginning with this June’s Ballerina. We’ll bring you more on the future of John Wick as we hear it.
