John Wick sequels reportedly won’t be shooting back-to-back

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

During a Lionsgate earnings call last summer, CEO John Feltheimer revealed that they were hoping to shoot the next two installments of the John Wick franchise back-to-back, which is something Ian McShane, who plays Winston, mentioned earlier 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'." However, much like the Mission: Impossible sequels, it seems that the back-to-back production has been scrapped.

According to Collider, John Wick: Chapter 4 is gearing up to shoot this June in Berlin and Paris, with additional photography in New York City and Japan, but while production on John Wick: Chapter 5 was originally slated to kick off immediately after, Collider has heard that only the fourth film will be shooting this summer. With COVID-19 still playing havoc with schedules, this isn't a huge surprise, but as we've become accustomed to, anything can happen during these crazy times.

While we're talking John Wick, it was revealed yesterday that franchise creator and writer Derek Kolstad would not be returning for the sequels and that it wasn't his choice to walk away from the franchise. "It wasn't my decision," Kolstad said. "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." As for who has been writing the upcoming sequels, Collider says that Mike Finch (American Assassin) has been the main writer, although a number of others have been involved as well.

 John Wick: Chapter 4 is currently slated for a May 27, 2022 release.