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Keanu Reeves Reveals How Long He’ll Play John Wick
Keanu Reeves has finally let the world know exactly how long he intends to play John Wick. Since the 2014 action extravaganza brought Keanu Reeves back to the forefront of the pubic eye, two more increasingly popular John Wick movies have been released. With two more John Wick movies on the way, which will apparently shoot back to back in early 2021, the question of just how long this series will go has been something fans have been dying to know.
Much like Al Pacino, every time John Wick thinks he's out, they pull him back in. The man just can't seem to retire to a life of honoring his late wife by being safe and happy. John Wick was supposed to be much tamer, but the revenge montage it became instead has created a franchise of pure, exhilarating, gloriously choreographed action. The first three films together have raked in over $600 million from fans just happy to see Reeves on the big screen, with all of them being written by Derek Kolstad and directed (the first was co-directed by David Leitch) by Chad Stahelski. That dream team will continue for John Wick 4 and 5, but the fate of the franchise is unknown after that.
In an interview with OK! Magazine, Reeves was asked how long he'd be willing to play John Wick. True to form, he responded, "As far as my legs can take me. As far as the audience wants to go." In echoing the sentiment of Stahelski when he was previously asked a similar question, Reeves seems confident that they'll keep going until they run out of stunts he can do or the audience gets sick of him doing them.
The story for the John Wick series is simple and vague enough to contain essentially infinite potential. As long as someone stands between John and retirement, then there's someone (and an army of goons) to kill in spectacularly creative ways. As hard as it may be to believe, Reeves is already 55. The stuntwork in the John Wick movies, which is the source of much of their acclaim, is almost exclusively done by the billed cast, and they train extensively to do so. While Reeves seems eager to continue, the bigger problem for John Wick may be the involvement of the creative team. Kolstad and Stahelski are very in demand, and very busy with upcoming action projects.
While Reeves is obviously the most important draw to the series, the talent of Kolstad and Stahelski in creating such unique action and using their star so effectively is a vital piece of the John Wick puzzle. In all likelihood, Reeves will be physically prepared to play the well-dressed assassin for years to come. Maybe that means fans will get at least one or two more, though the series is on a fast track to stunts so ridiculous that nobody could feasibly pull them off. Stahelski believes that there should be an Oscar for stuntwork, and it seems he won't stop the innovation until the academy caves. Hopefully Keanu Reeves keeps up with the demand because the John Wick series really is one of his most popular franchises to date.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2022)
Release Date: May 27, 2022
