“John Wick” fans should note while “John Wick 5” is on hold until filmmaker Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves can crack a new story (more on that soon), that doesn’t mean “John Wick” the franchise is staying idle. As the mythology grows and world-building evolves, there’s still potential to do so much more. Stahelski recently joined Mike DeAngelo for an episode of The Discourse podcast— that full interview soon— and during the discussion, after talking about the possibilities of “John Wick 5,” Stahelski opened up to even more ‘Wick’-verse content in the works.
READ MORE: ‘The Continental’ Review: ‘John Wick’ Spin-Off Walks The Walk & Talks The Talk, But Lacks A Keanu-Like Presence
Yes, there was a recent prequel show, “The Continental,” but Stahelski wasn’t very involved in that series. Instead, he revealed he’s getting much more hands-on with another, totally separate ‘John Wick’ TV series spin-off that he is developing, that is not only trying to bridge cinema and TV and include more action but expands the characters and worldbuilding of the “John Wick” universe.
In the free-flowing conversation, our Discourse host said the audience hasn’t met the High Table yet and that would be something fun to see. Stahelski countered with the idea that you must be careful with revealing too much as it could fall into cliches he and his team dislike. “‘Austin Powers’ mocked it so well,” he said of the idea. “An actual table with the stereotypes tropes of evil from different ethnicities from all over the world. We’re never going to show the whole High Table; we’ll show the representatives, but we’ll always keep some of that [mystery].”
Through that conversation, Stahelski revealed there is much more ‘John Wick’-verse content in the works. “And now that we’ve got… Lionsgate is having us develop the ‘John Wick’ TV show, so we thought we could explore The High Table in that a little bit,” he revealed.
Wait, yet another series. Is that separate from “The Continental? “Yeah, that’s completely separate,” Stahelski said and then pointed to newer characters from “John Wick: Chapter 4” that could potentially be explored.
“Yeah, I love Donnie [Yen], I love Rina [Sawayama], love the Tracker (Shamier Anderson), and the TV show and the ancillaries will give us a chance to expand the kind of fun world we’ve created, and it doesn’t have to be John Wick, the character specific, you know what I mean so that we can explore all that stuff,” he said.”
“And I think TV is a better format for that, I think because people can jump into the backgrounds, you don’t have to spend so much time with the first act set up and all that,” he continued.
The filmmaker also revealed a “John Wick” anime project is in the works, and it also sounds like it could be a TV series. “So we’re really looking forward to that; we’re really excited about it because we’re doing that and a Japanese anime because I love Japanese anime so much,” he explained. “So to create all the cool stories that anime could achieve better than we could and the TV show to expand our world, we’ll still get our fix, you know what I mean? And we’ll still have all the fun.”
“Cause I think, for TV especially, world-building and action, those two have stayed pretty separate,” he explained. “But to try and combine them and give fans [both]? Look, I love the [TV] slow-burn too, but after six episodes, I would like something to happen in my TV shows, you know? So, to try and bring that to TV, what we do with features would be really exciting,”
So, how much input did he have into the recent “The Continental” series? Not that much, to be honest, he admitted, and it sounds like part of the reason he wants to create his own show.
“We were consulted a little bit to bring that particular creative team to show them the world that I was creating; it was very early in ‘John Wick 4,’ so we showed them some of our concepts,” Stahelski said. “And then, honestly? [My team and I] had very, very, very little to do with it other than helping that creative team look inside our little world, and we gave them a little tour of how we do things, and then they took it and made it their own so that was a separate creative team.”
What is the formula for what John Wick is exactly, and what makes it special? Stahelski says it’s the people involved.
“You try and write it down on paper what the sauce is, and it’s the people. I don’t know how else you explain it. And that’s why franchises change because the people change, the directors change, and the crew changes; I mean, how would you expect it not to change? But we’ve created a [static] creative hub of people who get it, and we all love the same thing.”
“I think the main secret of ‘John Wick’ is they’re not meant to be movies,” he admitted, expounding on how the franchise gets more fantastical, but that’s ok and the point. “I think that’s some of the critiques that the films don’t get. They’re meant to be love letters to things that—yes, we know it’s Bugs Bunny, it’s supposed to be ‘Lord of The Rings,’ it’s fantasy. Like, are you really going to question me about the existence of orcs, magic swords, or rope that unties itself and invisibility cloaks ? Yes, ‘John Wick’ has that too. The funny thing is bulletproof suits do exist. We’re doing a campfire tale. We’re a modern-day fantasy, so it’s supposed to be fun, and it’s supposed to be a little nutty.”
Fingers crossed, we’ll get some concrete details on both series in the upcoming months. Stay tuned for much more from this interview.