At CinemaCon, Lionsgate released a teaser poster and official synopsis for highly anticipated action sequel John Wick: Chapter 3. For an actor who often gets so much flack about his lack of range, Keanu Reeves has sure played a lot of memorable characters over the years. Reeves will probably forever be most associated with playing unlikely savior Neo in The Matrix, with his two outings as time-traveling slacker Ted “Theodore” Logan in the Bill & Ted franchise running a close second.

In 2014 though, Reeves began playing his latest iconic character: put-upon assassin John Wick, in the film of the same name. Wick begins the franchise as a retired contract killer, living a quiet life with his beloved puppy, a gift from his late wife. When the son of a mafia boss makes the fatal mistake of crossing Wick – stealing his car and killing his dog – the sleeping giant awakes, sending perhaps the world’s most dangerous man on a quest for vengeance. That vengeance attained, Wick planned to resume his retirement, but the world would have other plans.

Wick was soon summoned back into the assassin fray in 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2, which saw an old associate of John’s come back to call in a debt, one that not even the nearly mythical Wick could refuse. After being betrayed, Wick ended up breaking an unbreakable rule: he killed a man claiming refuge inside the neutral territory of The Continental Hotel. Now, John Wick must fight his way out of a New York City where every assassin wants his head. John Wick: Chapter 3 arrives in 2019, and at CinemaCon, Lionsgate released the first teaser poster and an official synopsis (via Collider) for the sure to be thrilling sequel. Check them out below.

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is on the run for two reasons… he’s being hunted for a global $14 million dollar open contract on his life, and for breaking a central rule: taking a life on Continental Hotel grounds. The victim was a member of the High Table who ordered the open contract. John should have already been executed, except the Continental’s manager, Winston, has given him a one-hour grace period before he’s “Excommunicado” – membership revoked, banned from all services and cut off from other members. John uses the service industry to stay alive as he fights and kills his way out of New York City.


While John Wick: Chapter 2 saw the reluctant hitman set on a course that took him to several different countries, it looks like Chapter 3 will take place primarily in New York City, at least going by the above synopsis. Whether this means that prior reports of Chapter 3’s production heading to locales like Russia, Canada, Japan and Spain were incorrect or not is unclear, as even if most of the sequel takes place in NYC, that doesn’t mean that it will all take place there.

Much like how Chapter 2 began quickly after the ending of the original John Wick, it looks like Chapter 3 will resume the story almost immediately. John ended Chapter 2 being given a one-hour grace period by Winston to get as far as he can, but after that, the rest is up to him. An almost “real time” look at Wick’s quest to escape New York City is an idea with tons of potential, and would be fitting with the prior films, which rarely let up on the brakes to let audiences catch their breath once the action started. John Wick may want to retire, but if his movies keep being this good, fans may never be willing to let him.