John Wick writer won’t be back for upcoming movies

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Following the success of John Wick, Lionsgate got the ball rolling on John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, which brought the franchise to new heights, and the studio later announced that John Wick: Chapter 4 and John Wick: Chapter 5 were in the works. However, when these new John Wick films arrive, they will do so without the guiding hand of one of the architects of the franchise.

Derek Kolstad wrote the first two John Wick films and was joined by Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams on the third, but the writer/creator recently spoke with Collider to reveal that he's "actually not involved in four and five." Kolstad continued, "At a certain stage of the studio will tell you, your creation is graduated, and you wish it well. I'm still close with Chad, still close with Dave, and I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm excited to see." According to Kolstad, it wasn't his choice to walk away from the franchise.

No, it wasn't my decision. When you think of the contractually of these things, the third one I shared the credit with any number of people, they didn't have to come back to me, and so they didn't. And so you look at that and you could be hurt, and I would say if I was 20 years ago I would have been, but seeing what the industry is and how things go, I just believe that you bless everything and hope it all the best, and to the players involved who are doing other things elsewhere. And yeah, it's personal, so I'm never going to talk shit about John Wick. I want this thing to survive and thrive.

It remains to be seen who has penned the scripts for the next installments of the John Wick franchise, but Ian McShane, who plays Winston in the franchise, has previously said that the script is being written and that he hopes they'll start shooting later this year. "Keanu [Reeves] and I exchanged New Year’s greetings and said, 'Hope to see you this year,'" McShane said. "I know the script is being written and they’re hoping to do it this year. I know they announced they were gonna do ['John Wick 4'] and ['John Wick 5'] together, but who knows. The studios announce all sorts of things. No doubt, at some point this year, we’re gonna do 'John Wick 4'." John Wick: Chapter 4 is currently slated for a May 27, 2022 release.