Chad Stahelski explains why he has no interest in doing a live-actionJohn Wickprequel movie, and says Keanu Reeves agrees with him. Reeves indeed seemed ready for a break from the rigors of shooting and stuntwork after Baba Yaga was apparently killed in the closing moments ofJohn Wick: Chapter 4. But theWickfranchise is proving as unrelenting as its namesake character. All indications are thatJohn Wick 5is coming, and Reeves will be back. In the meantime,fans can enjoy spinoffBallerina, currently in theaters, while also looking forward to a recently-announced anime prequel.
Cool as an anime-styleJohn Wickmovie is likely to be, questions continue to arise about a possible live-action film in the same prequel vein, but director Stahelski is quick to shoot down such speculation,explaining recently why a non-animated John Wick origin story isn’t something he or Reeves are interested in(viaTHR):
“Keanu and I are not interested in going backwards. With the anime, you don’t have to de-age, you don’t have explain weird stuff, you don’t have to add a backstory. You accept anime in its own language without explanations. Anime just goes pop.”
What This Means For The John Wick Universe
There’s Already Been A Prequel, And It Wasn’t Good
Spinning off fromJohn Wickby going into the past has, of course, already been tried. In 2023,Peacock streamedThe Continental, a prequel series centered on John Wick’s sometime ally, sometime adversary Winston, and the goings-on at the titular Continental Hotel. Critics were largely underwhelmed by the series,withScreenRantpointing out how the show “struggles to replicate the appeal of the John Wick movies.”
The Continentalseason 2 is unlikely to happen after season 1’s lukewarm reception.
Doing aJohn Wickprequel without John Wick proved a bad idea. The franchise will now try doing such a prequel with John Wick, but without Reeves, except in a vocal performance. Announced at April’s Lionsgate CinemaCon presentation, this anime-styleWickproject will delve into John’s Impossible Task, a mission given to him prior to the events of the first film, the successful completion of which allowed Wick to retire from the assassin game (though that retirement would not prove as permanent as he hoped).
Our Take On No John Wick Live-Action Prequel Being In The Cards
It’s Probably The Right Call
Mention of the Impossible Task and all the awesome action implied by that word “impossible” guaranteedJohn Wickfans would yearn to see what actually went down. But Stahelski and Reeves seemingly thinkdepicting the Impossible Task in live-action would be, itself, an impossible task. By making the film as an anime, they are freed up to render John’s most insane mission as bloody and brutal as possible, without being hampered by all the other stuff that goes into doing a live-action movie set in the universe’s past.
It is probably just as well that theJohn Wickuniverse will continue building itself out via spinoffs, and sequels that continue on fromJohn Wick 4, rather than delving into the past except in animated form.The Continentalseemed to prove that the larger world ofJohn Wickis not a particularly intriguing place, though it arguably could be made intriguing by someone with a really good prequel idea.
Early box office returns for the first bigJohn Wicktheatrical spinoff,Ballerina, may suggest that there isn’t much hunger for more movies set in that universe, be they prequels, sequels, spinoffs or whatever else.This could lead to reexamination of theWickfranchise’s viability,and the brakes being tapped on whatever long-term plans Stahelski, Reeves and company may have in place.
John Wick
“John Wick” is a neo-noir action-thriller franchise centered around a retired hitman who returns to the criminal underworld to seek vengeance. Known for its intense and stylistic action sequences, the franchise has redefined modern action cinema with its choreographed gunfights, hand-to-hand combat, and intricate world-building. The series explores themes of loyalty, honor, and survival in a secret society of assassins.
