John Wick 5 is apparently happening after it was confirmed to be in early development in May 2023, but it seems the people involved in the series seem less convinced.

In July 2023, Chad Stahelski – who has directed all four John Wick movies to date – said that he didn’t know that a fifth movie would happen. However, as he told Inverse in October 2023, he’s not against the idea.

“I have notebooks and notebooks of shit behind me, John Wicks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. We have ideas for days. We just don’t have the story locked,” Stahelski explained.

“I have no interest in doing the cash grab of bringing John Wick back for something. Is he a character I like? Of course. And if I did a couple of John Wick movies, great. Keanu would do one again in a second if we had a good story.”

Ian McShane, who’s played Winston in all four movies, added in February 2024 that Keanu Reeves probably deserves a “good rest as long as he wants”.

“I spoke to him the other day, he’s resting for a while after the beating he’s taken over the last 10 years from all the assassins of the world. Let him rest until he decides to rise from his grave once again,” McShane told ScreenRant.

Given how John Wick: Chapter 4 ended, it’s perhaps not a surprise that we might not get a fifth movie. For now though, let’s hope that Stahelski finds an idea as we’re not sure we’re ready to say bye to John Wick just yet.

So with that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about a potential John Wick 5.

John Wick 5 potential release date: When can we expect John Wick 5?

Even though John Wick 5 has been confirmed to be in development (probably), we don’t yet have an official release date for the next movie.

The next John Wick movie we see will be the Ana de Armas-led spin-off Ballerina, which takes place between Chapters 3 and 4 in the timeline, and is currently due for release on June 7, 2024.

If you need a John Wick fix right now, all three episodes of The Continental are available to watch on Prime Video in the UK and Peacock in the US. Don’t expect to see Keanu Reeves in the show though.

We’ll likely have to wait until at least 2025 (and likely beyond that) for the fifth movie as there is currently no date for it to start filming.

Lionsgate

Despite where he’s left at the end of Chapter 4, we can’t imagine a John Wick movie without Keanu Reeves, so he’ll be back.

Ian McShane will likely also return as Continental owner Winston, having been restored to his status by the end of the fourth movie, while Laurence Fishburne should be back as the Bowery King too.

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Following his untimely passing, Lance Reddick won’t be back as Charon, who was also killed off in the fourth movie, but could have made flashback returns. We’ll get to see Reddick one final time as the faithful concierge though in spin-off Ballerina.

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Outside of those, it’s hard to tell who else could return. Maybe Donnie Yen as Wick’s old friend Caine, assuming he survives the assassination attempt by Rina Sawayama’s Akira as teased in Chapter 4‘s post-credit scene.

Shamier Anderson’s mysterious Tracker could return too, and maybe we’ll get an appearance in the main movies by Ana de Armas’s ballerina Rooney (assuming Rooney survives her spin-off movie, that is).

John Wick 5 plot: How does John Wick 4 set up a fifth movie?

There’s no avoiding it: John Wick looks to be dead at the end of Chapter 4. Following the duel with Caine (Donnie Yen), Wick appears to succumb to his injuries after telling Winston (Ian McShane) to take him home.

We then see Winston and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) at the grave of Wick, who is buried alongside his wife. However, we technically never see Wick’s body, although he does slump over after the duel.

He’d been through a lot though that evening, so maybe he was just tired. We can see a world where it’s revealed Winston helped Wick fake his death so that he was finally free of the High Table.

Stahelski has even revealed that they filmed a different version of the ending that showed Wick did survive, which is why you see his beloved pup look around during that final scene (potentially at Wick).

Whether it’s revealed Wick has faked his death remains to be seen though, and could likely depend on whether Reeves and Stahelski want to come back for another movie.

Lionsgate

Every John Wick sequel has only happened because Stahelski and Reeves have had an idea for why it should exist. Usually, this is discussed by the duo when the latest movie is released in Japan, about three months after its US release.

“Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, ‘What do you think?’. We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie,” Stahelski told The Hollywood Reporter.

Stahelski has been open about the fact that there is a certain amount of ambiguity about Chapter 4‘s ending, which allows for Wick’s return.

“I guess I’m going to have to lean on never say never,” Reeves told EW after the release. “I mean, I wouldn’t do a John Wick film without Chad Stahelski. We’d have to see what that looked like. For me, it feels really right that John Wick finds peace.”

Talking to Collider in May 2022, Stahelski called the fourth movie a “good conclusion to an emotional thread that we’ve already had”, which will certainly be the case if there isn’t a fifth movie as you can’t get more conclusive than killing your main character.

However, it also hints that if a fifth movie does happen, then it’ll be a kind of soft reboot for the series and could start telling a new story separated from the High Table, the Continental and all that usual Wick stuff.

Chapter 4 does introduce new characters to the world such as Akira and the Tracker, but if their stories are continued, we imagine it’ll be more in a spin-off or as secondary characters in the fifth movie, rather than them becoming main characters of it.