The future of theJohn Wickfranchise is very much alive. After the incredible success of the last entry,John Wick: Chapter 4, director Chad Stahelski and franchise star Keanu Reeves said the franchise’s future would depend on a trip to Japan and a bottle of whiskey. It must have been some good whiskey becauseJohn Wick 5is officially happening.
It’s hard to believe that a 4-film Hollywood franchise, and possibly the best action franchise of the 21st Century, spawned from Keanu Reeves getting revenge for a murdered puppy almost 10 years ago. The franchise has already pushed the boundaries of action filmmaking to its perceived limits, making it hard to imagine howJohn Wick 5could possibly get any bigger. However, there are still ambiguous characters and plot points the fifth installment needs to explore.
John Wick 5 Needs to Expand the Supporting Characters
It’s hard to ignore thatJohn Wick Chapter 4gave Keanu Reeves' titular protagonist avery definitive ending, leaving many to question a fifth entry in the franchise. However, the last four installments, as well as showcasing Reeves' badass action skills, have laid the foundations for future films to explore the world beyond Reeves’s character.
Each movie introduced audiences to new assassins who fought against and alongside John Wick. While many of these supporting characters met their inevitable demise, there are several whose futures have been left open-ended. Characters like Cassian (played by Common) inJohn Wick: Chapter 2or Sofia (Halle Berry) inJohn Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellumare still alive in theJohn Wickuniverse and have yet to have their characters fully explored beyond simply helping and opposing Wick.
The most recent entry,John Wick: Chapter 4, featured several new assassins who are perfect for future installments of the franchise, like Tracker (Shamier Anderson) and Akira (Rina Sawayama).
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TheJohn Wickfranchise alsofeatures its own internal mythology, code of conduct, and power hierarchy. The first four movies have already given insight into characters like Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), whose stories remain unfinished. The events ofJohn Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellumhave also left the future of the High Table uncertain, meaningJohn Wick 5could explore the inevitable power struggle between the remaining members of the High Table as they search for a replacement for The Elder — who met his demise at the hands of John Wick.
As well as its larger-than-life action, recent entries in theJohn Wickfranchise have expertly utilized their lavish settings within their action design, setting the framework for the movies to come.John Wick: Chapter 4featuredRina Sawayama’s Akirafighting on the rooftops of Osaka with a katana and a bow and arrow, and Chad Stahelski incorporating the bustling traffic of the Arc de Triomphe into Wick’s race to the dueling location.
There are so many placesJohn Wick 5could take the franchise. Audiences have been desperate to see more of the Ruska Roma since their introduction inChapter 3. It’s possible thatJohn Wick 5could fly audiences to Slavic Europe while incorporating the renowned Russian martial art Sambo — a blend of wrestling and kickboxing — into its fight choreography, as Ruska Roma members were shown training in wrestling duringChapter 3.
John Wick 5 Can Still Feature Bigger Stunts
Despite initially appearing as another forgettable action B-Movie,John Wickblasted audiences away with its gorgeous action set pieces, each framed with stunning wide shots to fully showcase the intricacy ofthe fight choreography. Each entry in the franchise has consistently gone higher and pushed further than its predecessor, and if Lionsgate has green-lit a fifth installment, it means Stahelski still hasn’t found his limit.
Audiences have already been treated to so many death-defying stunts and visually stunning fight scenes like the numerous neon-lit nightclub fights involving waves of nameless henchmen or the exhausting plummet down the 300 steps of the Sacré-Coeur.
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There are still many areas of stunt performance the franchise has yet to touch on, though. Future entries could take inspiration from an older Keanu Reeves-led action movie,Point Break, and incorporate aerial stunts — imagine a John Wick-style gunfight at 3000 feet while henchmen are desperately fighting to get hold of the one remaining parachute.
Although a surfboarding fight scene might be a little too silly for theJohn Wickfranchise, future installments could also take inspiration fromPoint Break’s water stunts, as audiences are still yet to see any gripping fight scenes underwater, as John Wick has to fight against his own oxygen capacity, as well as an endless wave of red shirts.
John Wick 5is still far off, as the only news on the project comes from the Lionsgate executive. Considering the franchise typically takes at least 2–4 years between entries, and there is still a mountain of planning for Lionsgate and Stahelski (if he is returning for a fifth installment) to do before production can begin, it is likely thatJohn Wick5won’t be hitting theatres until way into 2026 at least.
Until then, there is still theBallerinaspin-off movie, starring Ana de Armas, set to release in 2024, as well as the Peacock original seriesThe Continental, set in the New York branch of the titular hotel during the 1950s.
