Chad Stahelski Knows The John Wick Saga Was 'Pretty Wrapped Up.' How He's Approaching Bringing A 5th Movie To The Screen

The John Wick franchise has been incredibly successful, so it’s not exactly a shock that there are multiple films in development. Later this year, we’ll see the Ana de Armas-led Ballerina, and the next couple of years promise a Donnie Yen-starring Caine spinoff and an animated John Wick prequel. However, one movie that has the potential to be the biggest of them all is also potentially the most difficult to make, John Wick: Chapter 5.

A new John Wick film starring Keanu Reeves is certainly the thing that fans are going to want. However, considering that John Wick: Chapter 4 seemingly wrapped up the story quite nicely, one wonders how a new movie will even work. Director and franchise producer Chad Stahelski admits to Empire that the last movie ended the previous story, so he says the only way to make Chapter 5 is to tell a new story. He explained…

The ending of John Wick: Chapter 4 gave us John Wick’s apparent death. And while the death of John Wick was ambiguous enough that discovering he’s alive won’t require a great deal of work, the bigger issue is that Wick’s larger goal (getting out from under the High Table) was accomplished. As such, there isn’t an obvious place for John Wick: Chapter 5 to continue the story.

The decision to tell some sort of brand-new story feels like the right one. At the end of the day, as long as it has the action we’ve come to expect, those moments that, in the words of Chad Stahelski, make the audience say “Holy crap,” fans will be happy.

Of course, the thing that might truly determine the success of John Wick: Chapter 5 is how it starts. The circumstances that brought John Wick out of retirement became an iconic element in the whole series. Whatever it is that brings John Wick back from the dead is going to have to be at least as powerful to get the audience invested.

The change in focus certainly doesn’t mean that the elements of the John Wick universe, like the Continental Hotel, won’t play their part. One assumes that since Wick successfully freed himself from the High Table, they shouldn’t mind that he’s not actually dead. In fact, a new direction could lead to the creation of more elements of this universe that we haven’t seen before, which could open the doors to even more exciting material.

As somebody who loves the John Wick franchise so much, I recently checked out the John Wick Experience in Las Vegas, I will be looking forward to seeing John Wick: Chapter 5 whenever we get that chance.