It wasn't that long ago that Keanu Reeves made his first appearance as headshot-happy,
dog-loving hitman John Wick in the critically acclaimed film of the same name.
In the years since, though the world of assassins and gold coins that he lives in has grown
considerably, and will be expanding a whole lot more in the near future.
There's already a line of comic books slowly revealing more about Wick's shadowy past,
and a TV spinoff is currently in the pipeline at Starz.
Both are exciting projects, but it's Reeves' third outing as the steely anti-hero that
everyone's really waiting for.
From returning characters and exotic filming locations to production schedules and release
dates, this is everything we know about John Wick: Chapter 3.
The band’s back together
The biggest obstacle for John Wick: Chapter 3 was always going to be convincing Keanu
Reeves to reprise his role.
As he found out with the Matrix trilogy, third time isn't always a charm.
Luckily for Wick fans, Reeves was expressing his interest in a third film before the second
one was even released.
In February 2018, Reeves said that he was "absolutely" on board for John Wick: Chapter
3, telling Entertainment Weekly that he loves the character and the world, and that if audiences
were into what he did in the sequel, he’d have the chance to continue.
It turns out they did.
Chapter 2 racked up an 89% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Reeves got his wish,
with Chapter 3 being set for release in summer 2019.
Writer Derek Kolstad came aboard in summer 2017, and Chad Stahelski, who co-directed
and directed John Wick and Chapter 2, respectively, is back on board, too.
Familiar faces
With John Wick’s success, it’s no surprise that producers have been spending a whole
lot of time figuring out how to continue the character’s story.
When Chad Stahelski was asked for more details, he revealed that Chapter 3 is going to bring
a few characters from the periphery of the action into the spotlight.
Stahelski has mentioned that Ian McShane and Lance Reddick will both be back in prominent
roles, meaning that the Continental, a hotel that caters to working assassins, will likely
play a key role in the film.
Wick was excommunicated from the hotel for conducting business on its grounds in Chapter
2, but judging from these early comments, it looks like he’s not done with the secretive
underworld establishment just yet.
Common, Laurence Fishburne, and Ruby Rose are all preparing to reprise their roles as
well.
The last time we saw Rose's character, the mute assassin Ares, she was bleeding out in
a hall of mirrors after making the mistake of fighting John Wick.
Apparently it’ll take more than that to stop her.
On the road
While John Wick was set entirely in New York, Chapter 2 took him to the gloriously cinematic
city of Rome, and it looks as though he'll be getting at least one new stamp in his passport
in part three.
According to Stahelski's interview with Digital Spy, the plan is to keep Wick on the move,
and numerous destinations have already been tossed around behind closed doors.
Stahelski said,
"We talked about the UK, Paris, we'd love to do the Middle East and Asia."
Reeves even told IGN that he’d like to see John in Jerusalem, sending him into the desert
in an effort to go somewhere with a history that goes beyond even Rome’s.
It ultimately falls to writer Derek Kolstad to shape Wick's journey, and his choice is
Tokyo, who told the Jeff Goldsmith Podcast,
"One of the things I would love John to do in the third one is to be excommunicated,
broke, begging, in Tokyo or some corner of the Earth that’s sexy and cool."
Taking the story to Japan might help to underline Wick’s status as a sort of modern-day ronin,
and recent reports suggest that this might just be what the producers are going for.
Hiroyuki Sanada, who formed a friendship with Reeves on the set of the samurai flop 47 Ronin,
has apparently joined the cast as the central antagonist: the boss of a Japanese crime syndicate.
Pull up a chair to the High Table
While 2014's John Wick was a straight-up revenge flick, the 2017 sequel fleshed out the mysterious
world of professional killers considerably, revealing the existence of an all-powerful
council of assassins and crime lords known as "The High Table."
“The Camorras doubled Santino's open contract, it's gone international."
“High table?”
According to Kolstad,
"In one of the early script drafts we went in-depth on what the High Table is until we
realized it was too much for one story."
Luckily, Kolstad's interview seemed to indicate that Chapter 3 will finally go for it, which
was then confirmed by the director.
Reeves also teased the High Table's involvement in Chapter 3 during an interview with Empire,
saying,
"Maybe the High Table shows up.
And then the High Table starts firing guns.
And then maybe this kind of thing starts to happen between the High Table and Continental?"
Wouldn’t that be awesome?
John Wick: The End
As it stands, John Wick: Chapter 3 will be the last movie that will focus on Reeves'
character, at least as far as the filmmakers are concerned.
Asked by The Independent if he saw the third chapter as the final one, Chad Stahelski's
answer was yes, although he left the final decision in the hands of Lionsgate.
It seems like there’s a slim chance Reeves could return in a fourth film, but it’s
more likely that the studio is planning on doing more John Wick movies without the character.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate has already purchased a screenplay called
Ballerina, described as Luc Besson meets Quentin Tarantino, with the intention of releasing
it as a John Wick spinoff.
There's been little news of the project since, which suggests that Lionsgate intend to see
the John Wick trilogy out before expanding the universe.
That doesn't mean that Keanu Reeves will never play the character again, though.
In January 2018, Starz, the television network owned by Lionsgate, confirmed that it was
developing a TV series called The Continental.
While it’s based on the hotel that Wick and the other assassins frequent, it’s been
revealed that Reeves would not be the star, but will still reprise the role for occasional
appearances.
With Chapter 2 introducing an incredible number of new characters and Chapter 3 set to possibly
involve a conflict between the Continental and the High Table, there’s plenty to work
with in the wider John Wick universe… as long as all the assassins know they should
stay away from everyone’s pets.
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