John Wick 4 Director Says Sequel Is About Making Keanu Reeves "Suffer"

05/11/2022 12:04 am EDT

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is about to have a pretty bad time. In fact, when Chad Stahelski and his stunt crew were working on the many stunts and fight sequences that would make up John Wick: Chapter 4, making the eponymous assassin suffer is what the crew thought of first and foremost. Stahelski made the revelation while on the red carpet at CinemaCon last month, speaking with THR about the upcoming feature.

"We keep finding new and interesting ways to have John Wick suffer," the filmmaker told the trade. That's where the action comes from. Figure out how to make him suffer, and then design backward."

As the story goes, Stahelski cut his teeth in Hollywood doing stunts for Reeves on The Matrix trilogy and now the duo is working together on Lionsgate's wildly popular Wick franchise. Despite the studio once announcing that John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 would film back-to-back, it appears those involved in the production have cooled off on that.

"We do it chapter by chapter. Just like an author; write the chapter, scratch head, write next chapter," Stahelski mentioned. At the same event, the director told another outlet Chapter 4 could be a poignant ending.

"I think Chapter 4 is a good continuation of all three previous films, and it's got a bit of a conclusion to it, which is great," the filmmaker told Collider. "We introduce a ton of new characters that have a lot to say about John Wick from his past and from, obviously, present. I think it's brotherhood, it's hope. It's what the life would really be like as a bit of an existential crisis with John, and I think that's the fun part of the movie."

John Wick: Chapter 4 is currently set to enter theaters on March 24, 2023 while The Continental has yet to set a release date.

What other Wick spinoffs would you like to see? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter!

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