With the next entry in the John Wick franchise around the horizon, fans will once again witness the beloved actor Keanu Reeves as the iconic hitman in John Wick: Chapter 4. Over the years, the John Wick franchise has become one of the most successful and beloved action franchises and has cemented Keanu Reeves’ name among some of the greatest action heroes of all time.

But despite the enormous success that the franchise has garnered over the last 7 years, it appears that The Matrix star wasn’t the initial contender to star in the iconic role. As the original draft of its story focused on an older hitman at its center.

Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves wasn’t the first choice for the role of John Wick

According to Basil Iwanyk, Keanu Reeves wasn’t the first choice for the retired assassin for the iconic franchise, John Wick. In the book They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog, the producer confirmed that the movie was supposed to comprise a 75-year-old protagonist at its center. Iwanyk said,

“The lead was a 75-year-old man, 25 years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass. I thought, ‘Okay, there’s probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford.’”

However, after getting a call from his friend Jimmy Darmody, who was Reeves’ agent at the time, Iwanyk was asked if there were any action roles available for The Matrix star. Following his request, the producer offered the John Wick script to the actor and Keanu Reeves was so impressed by the story that he was hellbent on doing the movie.

In the book, the screenwriter of the movie, Kolstad, revealed that after receiving the initial script for the movie, Keanu Reeves was mesmerized by its story and was adamant about doing the project. The actor reportedly spend two months perfecting the script to fit his character and eventually crafted the perfect story for him to star in. Kolstad said,

“I spent two months at Keanu’s house on the weekends working on the script. He read [the script] on a Friday, in 90 minutes, and was like, ‘I want to do it.’ At that moment, before I met and really clicked with him, I was like, ‘Yeah, I really want to do it, too.’ The first thing that Keanu said to me was, ‘Okay, Derek, I’m going to play him 35.’ And I’m like, ‘Fine.’”

John Wick: Chapter 4
Although it would have been cool to witness someone like Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwood showering bullets into their enemies, it’s now impossible to separate the character of John Wick from Keanu Reeves.