Wicked.
Keanu Reeves will reprise his role as the vengeful hitman John Wick in the newly announced “John Wick 5,” officially ending speculation that his character died in the franchise’s fourth installment.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson broke the news at CinemaCon on Tuesday. Chad Stahelski, who directed all four of the previous John Wick movies, along with producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, will join Reeves in returning to the series of films that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
“Keanu, Chad, Basil, and Erica would not return unless they had something truly phenomenal and fresh to say with these characters and this world,” Fogelson said in a statement, per EW. “We can’t wait for audiences to see where the journey takes us next.”
In a separate statement about “John Wick: Chapter 5,” Iwanyk and Lee remarked, “It’s so important to get this story right and give John’s story the proper next step. It’s exciting to take the first step on that road.”
John Wick’s fate was uncertain after 2023’s “John Wick 4” suggested he died following a duel with Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård). In the movie’s final scene, Winston (Ian McShane) and Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) stand by a tombstone engraved with Wick’s name. However, a shot of Wick’s dog looking back at his grave led some to believe the hitman had lived.
A few months after the release of “John Wick 4,” the film’s director revealed that ending on such an ambiguous note was a “very deliberate choice” and that the film’s original conclusion showed Wick alive.
“We had a different ending,” Stahelski told Empire at the time. “We shot an ending where you actually saw John Wick at the end of the movie. So it was very clear that he was still alive. The audiences we tested with absolutely preferred the ambiguous ending.”
Previous Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Joe Drake also suggested a “John Wick 5” was in the offing during an earnings call with investors in May 2023.
“We’re building out the world and when that 5 movie comes, it will be organic — will be organically grown out of how we’re starting to tell those stories,” Drake said.
Before returning for “John Wick 5,” Reeves will appear in the John Wick spinoff “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas. The film, which takes place between the events of “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “John Wick: Chapter 4,” is set to hit theaters on June 6.
Two other John Wick spinoffs are also in the offing: a movie focusing on Caine, the blind assassin from “John Wick: Chapter 4″ played by Donnie Yen, and an animated prequel film.
Lionsgate announced that production on the Caine movie, directed by and starring Yen, will begin in Hong Kong later this year.
Reeves will voice Wick in the animated prequel, which centers on his character killing all of his rivals in one evening (referred to as “the Impossible Task” in the films).
Reeves will also produce the anime movie along with Stahelski, Iwanyk, and Lee. Shannon Tindle has been tapped to direct, and Vanessa Taylor has been brought aboard to pen the screenplay.
