Summary
- Chad Stahelski assures the fans that a John Wick television show is still in development.
- The importance of Keanu Reeves’ character to the John Wick franchise can be compared to Luke Skywalker’s significance to Star Wars.
- While the Ballerina spin-off and the John Wick series may succeed, they are unlikely to fare as well without the contributions of Keanu Reeves.
The Baba Yaga is dead, but that hasn’t slowed down the John Wick franchise. Peacock’s three-episode event The Continental offered the fans a prequel, which followed the exploits of a young Winston Scott (Colin Woodell). And in 2024, the Ana de Armas-led feature film spin-off The Ballerina will further the action-packed universe. However, the brains behind the four existing movies, Chad Stahelski, insists a John Wick television series is still in the works. Stahelski said in an exclusive interview with Collider:
“Again, if something clicked with me, like, believe me, man, all the ideas that our group of writers are working on now, I swear to you, I like them all. If you told me tomorrow I had to do any one of them, I’d be like, ‘Cool, man. That’s a great way to spend a year.’ They’re all cool ideas, and I have ideas on how I’d execute all of them. That’s what’s so fun about keeping it going. And we’re doing a John Wick TV show, which, again, keeps my head going.”
Stahelski also reveals that he’d like to direct some of the John Wick episodes:
“I would love to do a couple of episodes of the TV show just because I think I’d have fun trying things that we didn’t get to try in the films. I mean, absolutely. There’s some great ideas. And to work with a different cast and a different story structure without John Wick, it would be a fun challenge.”
Related: The Best Scenes in the John Wick Franchise, Ranked
Expanding Beyond John Wick 4
Release Date March 24, 2023
Director Chad Stahelski
Cast Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Scott Adkins, Ian McShane
Genres Action, Crime, Thriller
In terms of expansion, it makes perfect sense to continue milking the cow so to speak. John Wick: Chapter 4 became the highest grossing film of the franchise as the sequel made $440.1 million at the worldwide box office. The problem Chad Stahelski and the other creatives behind the Boogeyman spin-offs will arguably run into is that the last movie killed off the Golden Goose: Keanu Reeves. Take Peacock’s The Continental streaming event for example.
The first spin-off in the John Wick universe obviously couldn’t feature Reeves since it’s a prequel, but the bottom line is that fans and critics weren’t nearly as impressed by the adventures of a young Winston Scott as they have been with the Baba Yaga himself. The Continental’s Rotten Tomatoes’ scores (63% Tomatometer, 79% audience score) pale in comparison to those of John Wick: Chapter 4 (94% Tomatometer, 93% audience score).
It’s safe to compare the importance of Keanu Reeves’ character to the John Wick franchise, as he relates to the way Luke Skywalker so deeply benefits the Star Wars saga. For example, The Mandalorian has been an enormous success in that galaxy far, far away. But when Mark Hamill’s CGI-faced Jedi character showed up to save Baby Yoda, aka Grogu, in the second season’s finale, fans were actually crying in the numerous Luke Skywalker reaction videos posted on YouTube.
So, while the Ballerina might pirouette and make some noise at the box office in 2024, and Stahelski’s teased John Wick show might succeed, it’s safe to say that none of these spin-offs will fare as well without the contributions of Keanu Reeves portraying the saga’s most popular character.
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