Despite the fairly definitive ending for Keanu Reeves‘ titular anti-hero in John Wick: Chapter 4, Lionsgate announced John Wick 5 during CinemaCon in April. While there are a lot of questions about how John Wick: Chapter 5 can move the franchise forward, director Chad Stahelski has confirmed that it won’t simply be a rehash of the first four movies. Instead, he teased a new story for John to explore in the next movie.
“The saga of John Wick was pretty wrapped up,” said Stahelski while speaking with Empire. “So the only way to do a [fifth film] is to have a new story that involves John Wick. It’s not a continuation with the High Table. John dealt with his grief. It will be really different, and everybody [will] see the trailer and go, ‘Holy f***… I gotta see that.'”
Considering that the fourth film seemingly depicted John dying from his injuries and being laid to rest next to his late wife Helen, fans understandably thought that Wick was dead and buried. It’s unclear how the sequel will deal with that, although the easiest explanation is probably that John faked his death.
There’s no definitive timetable for when John Wick 5 will begin production, but Reeves will be back in his signature suit soon enough. He reprised his role for the upcoming spinoff movie, Ballerina, That film will star Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, and it’s slated to open on June 6. A second spinoff film is planned featuring Donnie Yen reprising his role as the blind assassin Caine from John Wick: Chapter 4. Yen will also direct the film.
Beyond those projects, Reeves is set to produce and star in an animated John Wick prequel movie that will explore the “impossible task” he pulled off to free himself of all obligations to the high table and live out his life with Helen.
