In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote her film Love & Monsters, Matrix 4 actress Jessica Henwick (Game of Thrones, Iron Fist, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Godzilla vs Kong) revealed she has been pitching to co-star Keanu Reeves on the idea of playing “Jess Wick” at the very end of John Wick: Chapter 4. She states that John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski is coming to the Matrix 4 set in two weeks and plans on giving him the pitch as well.
HENWICK: “So I pitch Jess Wick to Keanu all the time. I’m probably driving him crazy. I was like, ‘Okay, Keanu, listen to me. Boom. John Wick 4, last 5 minutes, credits roll, post-credit sequence. Boom! You see my face, Jess Wick.’ I just started acting it out and then he started acting it out, too. We put on this little ten-minute show of what Jess Wick and John Wick would be like. Chad Stahelski, the director of all the John Wick movies, is flying out in two weeks, I think. So I’m going to go straight up to him and I’m going to say it.”
Henwick is said to be playing a Neo-type character in the Matrix sequel and we’ve seen Chad court actors that have previously worked with Keanu in the past. It might be in their interest to add someone like Jessica with stunt/actor experience for what new roles they want to include if it’s Jess Wick or not.
Once Matrix 4 is completed there is an expectation that John Wick: Chapter 4 and John Wick: Chapter 5 will be shot back-to-back with franchise creator Derek Kolstad suggesting that Chapter 5 could be the final film in the John Wick Saga.
We know that a female-focused spinoff that is in the works at Lionsgate titled Ballerina with Underworld director Len Wiseman attached and there is a good shot that actress might appear in the next two John Wick films to help bridge their connections to the same cinematic universe.
Matrix 4 is set to be released on December 22nd, 2021 and John Wick: Chapter 4 is expected to be out on May 27th, 2022.
Lionsgate is really keen on keeping John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski at the studio, as Deadline reports they’ve attached to him a direct a spec-script titled Arcana they just picked up from Predators screenwriters Michael Finch and Alex Litvak.
A gritty urban fantasy set in the hidden world of magical clans.
The project seems to be in the director’s wheelhouse as he has been developing a reboot of the sci-fi fantasy action franchise Highlander, which could materialize as either a film or television series.
Stahelski will produce via 87Eleven Entertainment.
Chad will be a little busy for the foreseeable future with Lionsgate hoping to shoot John Wick: Chapter 4 and John Wick: Chapter 5 back-to-back. The fourth installment is expected to begin production once Keanu Reeves completes his work on Matrix 4 possibly in 2021.
Earlier in the year, John Wick creator Derek Kolstad suggested that John Wick: Chapter 5 could be the final installment of the franchise, it looks like Lionsgate is indeed moving forward with that installment much sooner than we had expected.
On the Lionsgate earnings call yesterday (via The Hollywood Reporter), CEO Jon Feltheimer revealed their current plan is to hopefully shoot both John Wick: Chapter 4 and John Wick: Chapter 5 back-to-back.
Hinting they could both begin production next year depending on Keanu’s schedule.
FELTHEIMER: “We’re also busy preparing scripts for the next two installments of our John Wick action franchise, with John Wick 4 slated to hit theaters Memorial Day weekend 2022. We hope to shoot both John Wick 4 and 5 back-to-back when Keanu becomes available early next year.”
This is likely due to the delays on John Wick 4 after Keanu’s filming of Matrix 4 happened to land squarely during the pandemic and production was ultimately paused until recently where it seemingly has resumed in Germany.
It would be expected that both director Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeve are returning for John Wick 5.
Pushing forward with John Wick 5 is likely more of a way to finalize the franchise and making sure they have everything tied up in a nice bow, the extra development time during the pandemic also possibly led to the fifth installment being pushed into script phases. Another reason could be to essentially shoot it as one big movie and save production costs.
Filming on John Wick: Chapter 4 is expected to begin sometime next year once Keanu completes his work on Matrix 4 and the studio recently gave it a new release date of May 27th, 2022.
The fourth installment is expected to see John (Reeves) and The Bowery King (Fishburne) going to war with The High Table, the mysterious group that controls their violent world of assassins.
This would further delay Chad’s Highlander reboot as well.
Lionsgate is also looking to expand the franchise with spinoffs including a Starz series titled The Continental and Len Wiseman’s upcoming female-led action flick Ballerina both directly set in the world of John Wick.
While director Chad Stahelski is waiting for Matrix 4 to complete before he can begin shooting John Wick: Chapter 4, he’s also still developing a feature film reboot of the beloved 1980s action film Highlander starring Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, and Clancy Brown.
The original 1986 film spawned multiple sequels and a couple of television shows.
HIGHLANDER – An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled “Prize”.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Chad gave some insight and updates on the current status of the Highlander project.
STAHELSKI: “As far as Highlander goes, it’s a project I’ve been working on for a little over three years now. It’s a project that’s not only near and dear to my heart but also the other creative people that are involved in it. It’s something that we feel we’ve got a good direction on. It’s just a tough nut to crack because the Highlander property is so involved and the mythology is so deep. But to try and make it our own, and be somewhat true to the original, yet do it in a way that makes it ours, is a little tricky. We don’t want to do a remake. We don’t want to do a reinvention. We want to do something that’s fresh, that utilizes the mythology of what everyone loves from the first movie. To make a good film is hard, to make a great film is even harder. We choose challenging projects in trying to be new and diverse — at least something that the audience hasn’t exactly seen our way yet. So, time is always a good thing, but I think I have a knack for picking projects that aren’t easy to develop. So, that’s good, I guess.“
He was also asked to give his pitch to the younger John Wick fans, who might not be familiar with the Highlander property given that it really hasn’t had a modern incarnation.
STAHELSKI: “It’s a cool story about… I call it the burden of immortality problem. You’ve got a group of individuals that, for some cosmic reason, have been allocated to be immortal. They have to live through human times and experience the human experience over centuries. The caveat to that being everyone you love or anyone whom you can bond with, you’re going to outlive. And the only people you can relate to, other immortals, the one simple truth is that there can be only one of you at the end. So, that means the only people you can relate to or actually become friends with want to take your head. So, how do you live through life with that kind of loneliness or that kind of burden upon you, knowing that you have to push love aside and you have to push friendship aside? And still learn every fighting style in the world because at the end of it, it’s one big gladiatorial pit over centuries, that there can be only one. And your mission in life is to survive, learn as much as you can and sword fight to the death. Come on. If you can’t get behind that, done to some really cool music, I don’t know what you’re doing.“
When Highlander will begin shooting remains to be seen as Chad has been mulling over potentially tackling a series (likely at Starz) to help flush-out the mythology to a new generation that might be unfamiliar with the mythology.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is officially on deck next with a May 2022 release date and is presumed to begin shooting sometime in 2021.
It was recently reported by Deadline that the director is putting together another action film at Paramount Pictures that would focus around cars/driving with a script penned by Andrew Nemec and Josh Appelbaum.
There were also some teases last month from John Wick franchise writer/creator Derek Kolstad while speaking with Comic Book that John Wick: Chapter 5 is a possibility, which could be the final installment of the Wick franchise.
KOLSTAD: “Because when you look at having been a part of establishing and building out the foundation of this world, you sign that first contract, I’m a nobody. I am part and parcel with both a part of it and not, and yet you just want to give it your blessing and have them play and have them play well. I’m not like a George Lucas in this capacity.”
“I am the guy who wrote the spec that got made and I was blessed enough to be part of three, and hope, in a certain respect, to be a part elsewhere. The studios reminding me again and again that it’s become bigger than me, but that is as iconic a studio line as you can hear. And yet, it’s been a fucking joy.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what Lionsgate ultimately does with the property.
THE RONIN 