Photo: NY Post
The Baba Yaga is back!
The John Wick series continues with Chapter 4, which stars Keanu Reeves as the titular assassin. A Twitter post showed Reeves as Wick bowing down his head while closing his eyes. Is he resting? Praying? Trimming his beard? I guess we’ll never know until its release on March 23, 2023.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will be directed by Chad Stahelski. The filmmaker has handled every other installment in this franchise.
The film features Laurence Fishburne, Ian McShane, Bill Skarsgard, and action icon Donnie Yen alongside Reeves are featured in the film. Yen portrays the character of John Wick’s old friend, who goes way back and shares the same nemesis with Wick.
“We are very lucky to have Donnie Yen join the franchise,” Stahelski previously said in a statement when the star’s casting was revealed. “I am looking forward to working with him in this exciting new role.”
Reeves Wanted the Role, Iwanyk Adjusted
John Wick was first released in 2014, with Reeves portraying the titular character, although the role was initially written for a seventy-five-year-old.
“The lead was a seventy-five-year-old man, twenty-five years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass,” recounts franchise showrunner Basil Iwanyk in the recently published book They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action, written by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman.
Read also: Ana de Armas Says Female Roles in James Bond Should be ‘Brought to Life in a Different Way’
“I thought, ‘Okay, there’s probably one or two names you could do this with Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford.’ Other than that, I’m not sure how I put this movie together. But the tone of the script for John Wick was subversive and really fun. It has a very clear emotional throughline and a great premise for an action movie.”
They had no choice but to rewrite the role following Reeves’ interest in doing this part.
Screenwriter Derek Kolstad revealed in They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: “The first thing that Keanu said to me was, ‘Okay, Derek, I’m going to play him 35.’ And I’m like, ‘Fine.'”
John Wick Series Latest Update
The last installment released by the franchise, Chapter 3: Parabellum, follows Wick being on the run from a group of assassins after a huge bounty was placed on his head.
In the movie’s last scenes, Wick gets shot by his trusted friend Winston, making him fall from the roof. However, he gets collected by someone and gets delivered to Bowery King. The two then agree to work together against the High Table.
All the previous three installments – John Wick (2014), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) – earned critical and commercial success, with a collective estimated earning of $587 million globally.
Read also: Alicia Vikander Shares Update About Tomb Raider Sequel
Opinions expressed by Artist Weekly contributors are their own.
