John Wick 4has an extremely definitive ending. So definitive that it seemed as though the series couldn’t really continue as it was, which there also seemed to be a plan for. Spin-off series The Continental didn’t feature Wick at all, whilethe upcoming Ballerinais set just before 4 and provides a stepping stone for Ana de Armas to take over as the face of the series. But now we’re getting John Wick 5, so what happens?
Spoilers follow for John Wick 4
At the end of John Wick 4, John Wick dies. There’s no window left open for more - we see him die, we see his grave. He’s dead. It’s the fourth movie in a series that already had two spin-offs in motion. A good, solid ending.
Reeves does a lot of practial work in the role and is aging out of the role (he’s 60, just two years behind the ageless Tom Cruise who is hanging up his Ethan Hunt role this year), while director Chad Stahelski has only ever directed the John Wick movies (though he has dozens of second unit and stunt co-ordinator credits) and may be looking to move on too -Ghost of Tsushimaisnext on his docket. But how does any of this work with John Wick 5?
Announced at CinemaCon earlier this month, we are indeed getting a John Wick 5 - it seems as ifReeves' heart has overruled his knees. But since then, fans have been wondering what that could mean for John Wick 4. However, the answer has been right in front of us the whole time.
Chad Stahelski has previously confirmed that an ending to the movie where Wick explicitly survived has filmed and shown to test audiences, who preferred what Stahelski generously called the “more ambiguous ending”, so it was never used. Many read the actual ending, of us seeing Wick die and his grave, as confirmation of death, so the next movie will need to undo that perception somehow.
Whether John Wick 5 will just act as if the cut ending always existed, will reshoot it so we can see Wick explicitly survive, or will skip over much explanation to get into the actual story is unclear - it may even be that Ballerina sets up his faked death more obviously, or that 5 is also a prequel, but given Reeves is remaining in the role it would need to be a prequel set somewhere within the continuity rather than before. That’s especially the case when you consider Wick was long retired before the first movie.
However they do it, the John Wick movies are consistently popular, and on balance audiences will prefer more John Wick over a clean cut ending - but John Wick 5 will still need to provide answers to how it even exists.
