John Wick: Chapter 4 Sets Up Multiple Spinoffs

This article contains John Wick: Chapter 4 spoilers.

John Wick: Chapter 4 was not meant to be a finale. When it was first announced, reports indicated that another sequel, Chapter 5, would film concurrently with the fourth movie. But then came the pandemic and various script changes and then, finally, director Chad Stahelski deciding that 200 days of production may be a little excessive (“I didn’t feel good about doing 4 and 5 collectively,” he later told Total Film).

For anyone walking out of John Wick: Chapter 4, the idea of a sequel will seem strange: John Wick, the head-shotting heartthrob, is dead. There’s no question about his demise either. After a duel with Donnie Yen’s Caine and killing Bill Skarsgård’s Marquis, Wick lies mortally wounded upon the steps outside Paris’s Sacré-Cœur. He thinks of his wife, Helen, and finally succumbs to death.

Did Stahelski have a simple change of heart after initially announcing Chapter 5—or was the whole thing a misdirection to put cinemagoers off the scent of Wick’s death? After all, the smell lingers heavily through Chapter 4, Wick telling Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King and Ian McShane’s Winston at one point that he wants “loving husband” engraved on his tombstone in perhaps the biggest moment of foreshadowing.

Whatever the case, John Wick may be dead, but there are already two major spinoffs incoming, and one of them, Ballerina, will even feature Keanu Reeves back as Wick. No, you didn’t miss a mid-credits scene of zombie-Wick’s hand punching through the dirt of his burial ground; the spinoff takes place between chapters 3 and 4. And speaking of post-credit scenes, I hope you stuck around until the very end of John Wick: Chapter 4, because there was a hint at another spinoff potentially to come.

In fact, John Wick 4 does a fine job of setting up multiple spinoffs while concluding Wick’s own story with action-packed panache. Let’s look at what’s already been confirmed to be coming to cinemas (and the small-screen) soon, and then speculate about potential paths the series could walk.

Ballerina

A movie that’s already confirmed: Ballerina picks up with a ballet dancer named Rooney, who was briefly spotted in Chapter 3 – Parabellum during a scene in which Wick visits The Director, played by Anjelica Huston, in Russia. Rooney was originally portrayed by actual dancer Unity Phelan, though she’s been replaced by No Time To Die’s Ana de Armas in the spinoff. 

The spinoff, which has no publicly projected release date, will see Rooney take revenge on those who murdered her family, and thanks to taking place before the events of John Wick: Chapter 4, will feature cameos from both Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane’s Continental Hotel manager Winston (presumably not at the same time as they are still on unfriendly terms at this point in the timeline after Winston shot Wick at the end of Chapter 3).

There was one minor nod to Ballerina in Chapter 4; the Marquis is seen watching a ballet dancer. It’s brief and may have nothing to do with Ballerina, but it’s a pointed moment and could come into play in the spinoff, which will be directed by Len Wiseman, who helmed the first two Underworld movies.

The Continental

Another confirmed spinoff, The Continental is a limited series that focuses on the rise of  Winston and how he came to manage the eponymous Continental Hotel. As this one’s another prequel, McShane has been replaced by The Purge’s Colin Woodell, and the most notable casting is Mel Gibson as a character known as Cormac. 

The series, which will consist of three 90 minute episodes, takes place in 1970s New York City. Notable other faces who will appear include Ayomide Adegun as Charon, portrayed in the main series by the late Lance Reddick, and Peter Greene as Charlie, the cleaner who appears in the first John Wick (and a deleted scene from John Wick: Chapter 2).

Perhaps the biggest clue as to where this series could go may be Chapter 4’s final moments—as Winston lays to rest his “son,” the implication being that Winston was a surrogate father toward John. Could the series explore their first meeting? Don’t be too surprised if a naive, bloodthirsty, teenage John Wick shows up.

The series was originally being developed on the American cable network Starz, however has since moved to the streaming service Peacock.

The Continental: Chapter 2

Of course should The Continental prove a huge success on Peacock, there could be a follow-up season. However, revealing too much of the mystery behind John Wick’s world may undercut the main series, and any sequel series could very well take place post-Chapter 4. Thanks to the events of the fourth film, Winston’s hotel is being rebuilt on the High Table’s dime, making the location a prime spot for assassins to visit. 

A series of 90-minute episodes about individual killers going about their hunting could make for an intriguing show, and McShane seems very poised to return. What’s more, his character is now on friendly terms with Fishburne’s Bowery King; these two as the steadying force in a more anthological tale could be a very fun, interesting dynamic. Or they could also continue to be side characters in other people’s stories, such as…

Mr. Nobody

This one is not to be confused with Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody—even though the idea of a crossover with John Wick has already been publicly spoken about as a possibility by Stahelski, who also served as a producer on Nobody. By contrast, John Wick: Chapter 4 introduces us to Shamier Anderson’s mysterious tracker who simply refers to himself as “Mr. Nobody;” a killer with a penchant for hounds. Sounds very much like our beloved Baba Yaga.

Considering Mr. Nobody was given ample screen time despite being slightly superfluous to the main story of Chapter 4, there’s a good chance he’s being set up as a future contender to have a spinoff. If, in the future, he connected with Winston in New York, it could make for a very interesting dynamic thanks to their shared history with John, and the Bowery King could once again act as a Q-like gadget provider. Plus, Anderson’s great in the role, one of his standout scenes being Mr. Nobody sitting on a bench, enjoying a beer, watching the final duel between John and Caine take place. 

Whatever the filmmakers do, let’s pray they don’t call the spinoff “Mr. Nobody”—everyone would confuse Nobody with Mr. Nobody, and nobody wants that…

Akira

The John Wick: Chapter 4 post-credits scene saw Rina Sawayama’s Akira making a move to assassinate Donnie Yen’s Caine just as the father’s about to reunite with his daughter. Her story, therefore, seems like the most plausible and possible follow-up. 

Akira’s out for revenge for her father’s death, but any future seems unlikely to focus on a showdown between Akira and Caine. Chapter 4 worked hard to make Caine sympathetic, with John sparing his life despite Caine ultimately killing him. It would be a shame, too, to have someone of Yen’s considerable talent continue to be a villain. Instead any future Wick-verse movie seems to be gearing up to Caine training Akira to become an ultra-assassin and take out the people who truly led to her father’s death: the High Table.

Again, please Stahelski and your team, don’t call this one “Akira;” there’s already a very famous, very excellent Akira out there.

Sofia

OK, so there’s absolutely no setup for this in Chapter 4, but Halle Berry, who played the dog-loving Sofia in Chapter 3, previously told IGN, “There could possibly be a Sofia… her own movie. So she might not be in John Wick [4], but she might be doing her own thingy-thingy.” Berry even said the projected spinoff would be “putting some ointment on a little sore,” referring to the failed James Bond spinoff that would have centred around her Die Another Day character. 

In Chapter 3, there are some subtle hints at what a spinoff could entail, with Sofia mentioning that she has a daughter. Some have speculated the daughter may be one of the ballerinas, which could tie into Ballerina. Whatever the case, should Sofia return to the franchise, it’s another chance to see her Belgian Malinois Shepherds in action, and they were very good boys.

John Wick: Chapter 5

A few final words on the once-promised Chapter 5. Just a few weeks before Chapter 4’s release, Stahelski spoke about the follow-up, though he was careful not to spoil the events of Chapter 4, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give John Wick a rest. I’m sure the studio has a plan. If everyone loves it and it goes kooky, then we’ll take a quiet minute. Wicks always, for some weird reason, always get the latest release date in Japan. It’s always like, three months later.” 

He continues, “If it’s the same this time, we’ll do a Japanese tour and release the movie in September. Keanu and I will take the long trip to Tokyo, we’ll sit in the Imperial Hotel Scotch Bar and go, ‘What do you think?’ We’ll have a couple 20-year-old whiskies and write some ideas on napkins. If those ideas stick, maybe we’ll make a movie.”

It sounds like another chapter could happen, even if John Wick’s dead. I mean, we didn’t see his corpse being incinerated, so perhaps there’s some life in him yet. Either way, Stahelski and Reeves have a fair few storytelling options open to them—it’s more a question of which one they will take.