Keanu Reeves Is Back. Here's Everything We Know So Far About John Wick: Chapter 4

Keanu Reeves is back in action as John Wick in the fourth installment of the much-beloved franchise. Hitting Philippine cinemas on March 22, John Wick: Chapter 4 (JW4) has already received wildly positive feedback from critics who caught an early viewing. Anything with Keanu Reeves is sure to be a hit, but it warms our Keanu-obsessed hearts that even hard-won critics are calling JW4 a work of art.

With premiere day just around the corner, here’s everything you need to know about John Wick: Chapter 4.

Also read: The John Wick Prequel Series Is Coming to Amazon Prime Video

Keanu Reeves Dressed Like John Wick Before John Wick Even Existed

How long will John Wick: Chapter 4 be?

JW4 is going to be the longest film in the franchise’s history. The third film, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, ran for 131 minutes, but the sequel is going to be even longer. It’s going to be, get this, 169 minutes long. That’s just 11 minutes shy of three full hours.

What happened in John Wick: Chapters 1 to 3?

Well, that’s a loaded question. Over time, the Neo-noir action thriller series has grown into a well-developed world with intricate plot points that are never too complicated to follow. But for the sake of time, Keanu Reeves himself has managed to summarize the three films into a 60-second explanation.

Here’s the Keanu-approved recap:

What will John Wick: Chapter 4 be about?

Directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch, the fourth movie in the franchise will follow John Wick as he faces a new enemy and nurses a grudge against the High Table. That seems to be the plot for every John Wick film, but we trust that Stahelski and Reeves will deliver something new, as they have for the past three films.

According to Stahelski, he and Reeves were ready to wrap up the franchise with John Wick 3. By the end of the third film, the two collaborators were burnt out by the filming process and were ready to end it right there and then. But by some miracle, the two said yes to JW4 but managed to inject their personal experiences into the new film. According to Hatten, Wick is in a strange place in his life in the fourth film. The hardened hitman is full of rage and the need for revenge, but he’s also asking himself big existential questions as to why he’s still doing what he’s doing.

John Wick 4 was supposed to be released on May 21, 2021, but COVID delayed its premiere until March 22, 2023.

Who will star in John Wick: Chapter 4?

Keanu Reeves returns as the title character John Wick, who’s now being hunted by the High Table. As for Wick’s allies, Donnie Yen will return as Wick’s blind friend Caine; Laurence Fishburne will return as the Bowery King, a former crime boss sponsoring Wick; and Hiroyuki Canada will star as Shimazu, manager of the Osaka Continental Hotel. On the other side, Bill Skarsgard will star as the Marquis de Gramont, a High Table member being challenged by Wick.

As for the remaining cast, Lance Reddick will return as Charon, Shamier Anderson will star as The Tracker, Rina Sawayama as Akira, Scott Adkins as Killa, Clancy Brown as The Harbinger, Natalia Tena as Katia, Marko Zaror as Chidi, and Ian McShane as Winston Scott.

Will there be a John Wick: Chapter 5?

Most likely, yes. If we had our way, John Wick would become the new Fast of Furious. Just keep them coming. In 2020, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed that a John Wick 5 was in the works, and John Wick 4 and 5 were meant to be filmed back-to-back. COVID changed their plans, so for now, only Chapter 4 has been shot and will come out on March 22.

Stahelski and Reeves might have been burnt out after John Wick 3, but Reeves has said more than once that he’s on board whatever John Wick projects come his way in the future. After all, who would John Wick be without him?

Will there be John Wick spin-offs? 

There’s already one in the works. Ana de Armas will join Keanu Reeves’ blockbuster franchise through Ballerina, a spin-off film that takes place between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. Replacing Unity Phelan from Parabellum, De Armas will play Rooney, a ballerina-turned-assassin who hunts down the people who killed her family.

Shooting began in Prague in late 2022, so Ballerina should drop by 2024.

Will there be a John Wick prequel?

Yes, but not in the way you might think. The John Wick prequel that’s in the works will tell the backstory Winston Scott, not John Wick. The series will follow Scott on his path to becoming the enigmatic manager of the New York Continental Hotel. The series will launch on Peacock in the U.S. but on Amazon Prime Video globally.