John Wick: Chapter 5has been officially confirmed with Keanu Reeves returning, so the apparent finality ofChapter 4’s ending was just a lie. A fifthJohn Wickmovie has been in development since the blockbuster box office success of the fourth one, but it wasn’t officially confirmed. Atthe end ofJohn Wick: Chapter 4, Wick seemingly died after making the ultimate sacrifice to free the High Table from the Marquis’ rule. He was reunited with his late wife Helen in the hereafter and could finally achieve peace. It was the perfect ending for the character’s story.
But now, the finality of that ending is getting undone. At CinemaCon 2025, Lionsgate boss Adam Fogelson announced thatJohn Wick: Chapter 5is officially in the workswith Reeves and director Chad Stahelski on board. There’s also a separateJohn Wickmovie in development: an animated prequel set before the first film, which will show the “impossible task” that Wick had to complete in order to retire from his life as an assassin. While that one sounds like a fun addition to the established canon,John Wick: Chapter 5could ruin what madeChapter 4so great.
John Wick 5 Can’t Happen Without Undoing John Wick’s Death
He’s Back, So He Has To Be Alive
There’s no way for Reeves and Stahelski to makeJohn Wick: Chapter 5without retconning Wick’s death fromChapter 4.It was theorized that Wick could return for a prequel set between the third and fourth movies, but the upcoming spinoff,From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, is set betweenChapters 3and4, so that’ll fill in what Wick was up to in between those movies. All the previousJohn Wickmoviespicked up where the previous one left off, so there’s no room to fit a whole new movie in between them.
10 Characters Who Must Return In John Wick 5 If Keanu Reeves Comes Back
If Keanu Reeves comes back for John Wick: Chapter 5, it should herald the return of other fan-favorite characters like Aurelio and The Bowery King.
There wasa bonkers theory thatJohn Wick: Chapter 5would take place in Hell, and it would see Wick fighting his way through Satan’s demon armies to reunite with Helen in Heaven.That sounds way too awesome to be true, so it’s probably not the direction thatChapter 5is taking. If that is the direction this movie is going, then it could actually be great. Butit’s more likely thatChapter 5will retcon Wick’s deathand continue his story whereChapter 4left off, with the High Table under new management.
John Wick 5 Reversing John Wick’s Death Turns Chapter 4’s Finale Into A Lie
Chapter 4 Was A Fitting Conclusion To Wick’s Journey
John Wick: Chapter 5can either reveal that the grave seen at the end ofChapter 4was empty all along, or it can totally ignore the fact that Wick was killed off in the last movie and just pretend it never happened. Either way, it’ll ruin what was once a perfect ending for the series. Just the fact that the series is continuing at all with a fifth movie has a high potential to ruin it. It’s nearly impossible to come up with the right ending to a long-running story, andJohn Wickis about to squander its own.
It’s nearly impossible to come up with the right ending to a long-running story, and John Wick is about to squander its own.
The ending ofChapter 4marked the end of Wick’s journey, and it was a fitting conclusion to his story. It was poetic that this legendary gunslinger, who we’d seen escape death countless times across four movies and who seemed to be invincible, would be struck down in a pistol duel at sunrise. He wasn’t killed by an enemy;he was killed by a friend acting as a proxy, and it allowed him to take down the big bad. But now that he’s thinking he’s back, that’s no longer the ending to his story.
Why John Wick: Chapter 4’s Ending & His Death Was Never Going To Stick
John Wick Is Too Big To End Now
As perfect asChapter 4would be as the final entry in theJohn Wickseries, there was no way that ending was going to stick. IfChapter 4had been met with so-so box office returns, Lionsgate might’ve let the series end. But it becamethe highest-grossingJohn Wickmovie by farand returned a massive profit for the studio, so of course they were going to make sure a fifth movie would happen. There was way too much pressure — and way too much potential revenue — not to continue the franchise.
Of course, the franchise was always going to continue inspinoffs likeBallerinaand TV shows likeThe Continental. But it’s really Reeves’ portrayal of Wick himself that makes this property so popular.Without Reeves,John Wickis nowhere near as valuable as an I.P., so spinoffs alone won’t cut it; if Lionsgate can get Reeves back, they’re going to get Reeves back.
John Wick: Chapter 5was originally set to be filmed back-to-back withChapter 4, but the two-parter was streamlined into one movie.
It always seemed as though the filmmakers intentionally left the door open for Wick to return.When Wick supposedly dies inChapter 4, we never actually see a body; we see him slump over with a gunshot wound in his gut, then we see Winston and the Bowery King visiting his grave. It’s just ambiguous enough that he might’ve faked his death.We’ve seen him survive much worsethan a shot to the belly. Just a couple of scenes earlier, Wick jumped out of a fourth-story window, while on fire, and landed face-first on a van.
How John Wick 5 Can Still Make Chapter 4’s Ending Matter
If Wick Faked His Death, He Could Still Have Found Peace
It won’t be easy, but it is possible forJohn Wickto get a fifth movie without completely undoing the definitive ending of the fourth one.The main point ofChapter 4’s ending is that Wick finally found peace; he’d spent a couple of movies on the run from every assassin in the world, fighting for his life every time he entered a room, and death freed him from that. Buthe would achieve the same peace if he faked his deathand all those assassins just thought he was dead.
John Wick 5 Has An Even Bigger Challenge Than Bringing Keanu Reeves' Character Back From The Dead
It would be a huge challenge to pull off John Wick: Chapter 5, and not just because Keanu Reeves' iconic assassin was killed off in Chapter 4.
Naturally,John Wick: Chapter 5can’t just spend two hours watching a retired Wick lead a peaceful existence, so he’ll need to be drawn back into action by something.Maybe it could go back to the franchise’s roots and tell a pared-back revenge storyabout a retired hitman coming out of retirement to exact vengeance. The sequels have built out the world with a lot of complicated underground politics, but this was originally just a straightforward revenge tale.John Wick: Chapter 5will have to do something really special to justify its existence, but I trust Reeves and Stahelski.
