Stahelski talks Caine, The Continental and the future appearances, or not, of John Wick

With Ballerina just hitting cinema screens this weekend, expanding the world of John Wick, Chad Stahelski, the man overseeing this cinematic world, has been discussing what has happened so far in the franchise and, perhaps more importantly, what’s still to come.

First up, he discusses The Continental. The Peacock series told the story of how a young Winston Scott, played by Ian McShane in the movies, became the manager of The Continental, the hotel that’s as prominent in the Wick movies as most of the characters.

Now, see, I enjoyed the series and thought it did some solid work expanding that lore of Wick’s world, but some of those who made the movies have made it clear that they weren’t involved and, as such, it’s not really part of John Wick’s universe.

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“Keanu and I were — I wouldn’t say sidelined, but our opinion was heard and not really noted,” Stahelski says.

“[The studio] tried to convince me they knew what they were doing. A group of individuals thought they had the magic sauce. But if you take out Basil Iwanyk’s producing intuitiveness, if you take out Keanu’s way of delivering quirky dialogue and if you take out all the visuals I have in my head from Wong Kar-wai, anime, Leone, Bernardo Bertolucci or Andrei Tarkovsky … then it’s not the same thing. They thought this was as easy as using anamorphic lenses, do a kooky hotel, put in weird dialogue, and insert crime drama”

With The Continental kicking off the expanded ‘From the World of John Wick’ franchise, next up we have Ballerina starring Ana DeArmis with Keanu Reeves’ brief appearance as John Wick, and it’s superb fun and feels 100% like it’s part of the same world as the Wick movies, but can the franchise go on without Reeves?

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“Keanu and I actually just talked about this,” Stahelski says, “It’s always tricky. I think the world can be supported as long as you don’t go crazy and carpet bomb. What we’re doing now are stories we really want to tell that feel organic. You’ve seen Alice in Wonderland. Now what about the Rabbit? What about the Cheshire Cat? Also, sometimes in your own franchise, you get so far up your own ass with the mythology that by the 10th movie you don’t know what’s going on. I don’t ever want to get that way with Wick. I want each one to be able to stand alone.”

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We’re five movies in now, a TV series, at least two more movies planned, an anime and a High Table TV series plus the open-world video game rumors persist, so Stahelski, like it or not, has already built a massive universe but he’s definitely saying the right things and if Ballerina is anything to go by, so far, it’s working just fine.

The next movie in the series is based on Donny Yen’s blind assassin Caine, who first appeared in John Wick 4 and Stahelski insists that Reeves’ Wick will not be appearing in that story:  “The Donny Yen spinoff doesn’t have the John Wick character. It’s got Donny Yen and it’s an ode to kung fu movies. If John Wick 1 was about Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin, this is about Chow Yun-fat, John Woo and Wong Kar-wai. So I think that one is a little easier to get it across to audiences because it’s in a sub-genre of what we love.”

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After Caine will be John Wick 5 which will be a tough nut to crack because, spoiler alert, Wick dies at the end of the fourth movie and it’s something that Stahelski has made no secret of wrestling with: “It’s a bit of a conundrum. Me and Mike Finch — the writer on 4 who’s also writing 5 — we’ve got a pretty good story that I think is cool. Once we have a 50-page book, and if we’re feeling it, we’ll sit with Keanu and shape this thing. Look, everybody seems to want it. It’s a matter of whether we crack it. We’re actively working on it. It’s just … is it going to be satisfying?”

Interestingly, Stahelski insists that he and Reeves don’t want a prequel, they want to keep the story moving forward and compares it with the anime John Wick movie which we already know will be a prequel, telling an earlier, so far unseen part of Wick’s life: “Keanu and I are not interested in going backwards,” he says.

“With the anime, you don’t have to de-age, you don’t have explain weird stuff, you don’t have to add a backstory. You accept anime in its own language without explanations. Anime just goes pop.”  

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He goes on: “I was really happy with the way 4 ended. It was Keanu and I saying, “Thank you, it’s been awesome, but it is time to go.” I didn’t want to overstay our welcome.”

Reading between the lines here, Stahelski is making no secret of his reluctance to tell this story, but the studio really wants it: “The studio would very much will it into existence, I’m sure, at some point. Look, they’ve been great and they’ve asked us to really try and we have a really good couple of ideas and we’re going to try.”

I really want John Wick 5 but if the creatives aren’t feeling it, Ballerina has proven that this world can thrive without John Wick, so I’m happy to see that happen and I’m already fully onboard for the Caine movie and the anime, so let’s hope that if or when it does happen, it’s what Stahelki and Reeves want because they haven’t failed us yet.

Thoughts? I know you have ’em and I wanna hear ’em all.

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More John Wick spinoffs, a High Table series and – yes! – an anime are in development!

Source: THR