All three John Wick movies have been stellar, but perhaps the best of the series is still yet to come. John Wick: Chapter 4 has gotten yet another delay, pushing the sequel back to 2023, but Laurence Fishburne says it’s worth the wait. The actor, who appeared previously as the Bowery King, will reprise his role in the fourth movie. As told to Collider, he says this one is the “best one yet.”
Laurence Fishburne is one of a handful of franchise stars that will be joining Keanu Reeves in the sequel. We’ll also see the returns of Lance Reddick as Charon and Ian Macshane as Winston, each serving as vital members of the Continental. Newcomers to the franchise that also star include Rina Sawayama, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, and Clancy Brown. Chad Stahelski returns to direct John Wick: Chapter 4. The screenplay, which is the first of the series not to include the involvement of John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, was penned by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. Stahelski is producing with Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.
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There are tentative plans to develop a fifth movie as well. Originally, the plan was to shoot John Wick 5 back-to-back with the fourth chapter, but this was nixed in light of the pandemic. John Wick: Chapter 4 has also undergone several major delays, and it was, at one point, slated to go head-to-head with The Matrix Resurrections, another fourth installment of a Keanu Reeves franchise. Oddly enough, the news of John Wick: Chapter 4 getting yet another delay to 2023 comes right when The Matrix 4 is premiering in movie theaters.
“I think that [Stahelski and Wachowski] have a real affection for each other, and I know that Chad always describes going to Wachowski film school,” Reeves recently said of the John Wick 4 and The Matrix 4 directors, noting Stahelski also plays “Handsome Chad” in the new movie. “Chad was my stunt double on the trilogy and I think that Lana, the director and writer, appreciates Chad and his filmmaking. And there was a lot that Lana was trying to interweave in terms of life and art for all of the people in the film and artists in the film. And I think for her, it gave her a chuckle that Chad was the husband to Trinity’s Matrix counterpart.”
The John Wick franchise is also set to expand beyond following the titular character. There’s a prequel TV series that’s in the works dubbed The Continental. It will star Colin Woodell as a young Winston with Mel Gibson co-starring. There are also plans to develop other spinoffs for the big screen. In October, it was reported that Ana de Armas was in negotiations to star in a John Wick spinoff movie.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now scheduled to be released in theaters on March 24, 2023.
