John Wick: Chapter 4 is finally out and as expected, the film was an excellent action-packed addition to the successful franchise. However, the fourth installment of the movie trilogy did have an ending nobody expected to see. Luckily, Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski explained why John Wick 4 concluded the way it did.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 SPOILERS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
In John Wick 4, John went up against the High Table assassin Caine who fatally injures him. Still, John manages to shoot the Marquis Vincent de Gramont and the Harbinger declares John free of his debt. Unfortunately, John still dies from his wounds and is later buried beside his beloved wife Helen.
Nobody expected to see John die so soon but for Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski, this was the only way out for the character.
"We had the opportunity [to do another film] because the audience [response to] Chapter 3, and we were like, 'What was the why?'" Reeves said during the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival (via The Hollywood Reporter). "And when Chad and I was talking, the Why? was death – and it was John Wick's death. For him to get his peace, or freedom, in a way… that was the reason to make the movie. It can't just be, 'Let's do another one.' It was really about death, or a way of dying. We were really inspired by the Hagakure…"
"We kind of took the way of dying – or the way we live well to die well – as the theme," Stahelski said.
Although the end has finally come for John, the franchise is far from over. The John Wick spin-off Ballerina is currently in production with Ana de Armas as its new lead. In addition to that, another series focusing on the Continental is said to be in development.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now screening in theaters worldwide.
Related: Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne Pay Tribute to Lance Reddick at John Wick 4 Premiere
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