John Wick 5's Announcement Confirms

The apparent finality of Chapter 4's ending was a lie, as Keanu Reeves' return has been officially confirmed in John Wick: Chapter 5. Although it wasn't formally confirmed, a fifth John Wick film has been in development since the fourth one's huge box office success. Wick appears to have passed away at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4 after giving his life to liberate the High Table from the Marquis' domination. He was able to finally find peace after being reunited with his late wife Helen in the afterlife. The character's story had the ideal conclusion.

However, that ending's finality is now being undone. Lionsgate CEO Adam Fogelson declared at CinemaCon 2025 that Reeves and director Chad Stahelski are officially working on John Wick: Chapter 5. The "impossible task" that Wick had to finish in order to retire from his life as an assassin is depicted in the animated prequel to the first John Wick movie, which is also currently in development. John Wick: Chapter 5 has the potential to destroy the wonderful elements of Chapter 4, even though it seems like a fun addition to the established canon.

Without reversing John Wick's death, John Wick 5 cannot occur.

Without retconning Wick's death from Chapter 4, Reeves and Stahelski cannot create John Wick: Chapter 5. The upcoming spinoff, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, is set between Chapters 3 and 4, so that will explain what Wick was up to between those films. It was previously thought that Wick might make a comeback for a prequel set between the third and fourth films. There is no space for a brand-new John Wick film to be released between the previous ones because each one continued where the others did.

According to a crazy theory, John Wick: Chapter 5 would take place in Hell, with Wick battling his way through Satan's armies of demons to meet Helen again in Heaven. That sounds far too fantastic to be true, so Chapter 5 is most likely not going in that direction. This film has the potential to be fantastic if that is the direction it is taking. With the High Table under new leadership, Chapter 5 is more likely to pick up where Chapter 4 left off, retconing Wick's death.

John Wick 5's Reversal of John Wick's Death Makes the Conclusion of Chapter 4 Untrue

John Wick: Chapter 5 has two options: either it acknowledges that the grave at the end of Chapter 4 was empty all along, or it completely ignores Wick's death in the previous film and acts as though it never occurred. In any case, it will spoil the series' once-ideal conclusion. The series could be ruined just by the fact that it is being continued at all with a fifth film. Long-running stories are almost impossible to have a good ending for, and John Wick is about to waste its own.

Wick's journey came to an end at the end of Chapter 4, which was a fitting way to wrap up his tale. That this renowned gunslinger, who we had witnessed evade death innumerable times in four films and who appeared to be unbeatable, would be killed in a pistol duel at dawn was poetic. A friend acting as a stand-in killed him instead of an enemy, which gave him the opportunity to defeat the big bad. But now that he believes he has returned, his story doesn't end there.

Why the conclusion of John Wick: Chapter 4 and his death were never going to be permanent

Even though Chapter 4 would be ideal as the last book in the John Wick series, the conclusion was not going to hold up. Lionsgate might have allowed the series to end if Chapter 4 had received mediocre box office receipts. However, it became by far the highest-grossing John Wick film and brought in a huge profit for the studio, so naturally they wanted to make sure a fifth film was made. The pressure to keep the franchise going was too great, and the potential revenue was too great as well.

Naturally, the franchise would continue in TV series like The Continental and spinoffs like Ballerina. However, what really makes this property so well-liked is Reeves' portrayal of Wick himself. Spinoffs won't work without Reeves because John Wick isn't nearly as valuable without him as an IP; if Lionsgate can reunite with Reeves, they will.

It always felt like the filmmakers purposefully left the possibility of Wick's comeback open. We never really see a body when Wick is said to have died in Chapter 4; instead, we see him slump over with a gunshot wound to his stomach before Winston and the Bowery King visit his grave. It's unclear enough that he may have staged his demise. He has survived far more severe injuries than a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Wick had just landed face-first on a van after jumping out of a fourth-story window while burning.

How the Conclusion of Chapter 4 Can Still Be Important in John Wick 5

Although it won't be simple, John Wick could get a fifth film without totally reversing the fourth film's conclusive conclusion. The primary theme of Chapter 4's conclusion is that Wick at last found serenity; he had battled for his life every time he entered a room for a few films while evading every assassin in the world, and death released him from that. However, if he pretended to be dead and all those assassins believed he was dead, he would still be at peace.

John Wick: Chapter 5 can't just sit there for two hours and watch a retired Wick live a quiet life, of course, so something has to pull him back into action. Perhaps it could return to the franchise's origins and tell a simplified revenge tale about a retired hitman returning to the field to get revenge. This was initially just a simple revenge story, but the sequels have expanded the world with a lot of intricate underground politics. John Wick: I have faith in Reeves and Stahelski, but Chapter 5 will need to do something truly exceptional to warrant its inclusion.

Comments

ANYONE LIKED IT

The Residence Season 1 Ending Explained

MobLand Episode 1 Ending Explained

Snow White Ending Explained