What’s next for John Wick? That’s a question posed to Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski on the latest episode of the Empire Podcast, leading the creative duo to brainstorm a handful of weird and wonderful ideas that could wind up featuring in the as-yet-unconfirmed John Wick: Chapter 3.
It almost goes without saying, but both Reeves and Stahelski tread into spoiler territory here, so if you’ve yet to catch up with Mr. Wick’s wildly over-the-top European shindig – from Lawrence Fisburne’s cameo to the ice-cool Lance Reddick and everything in between – we’d advise bookmarking this page for a later date.
Still with us? When asked about what they envision for the future of the cult action franchise, Reeves began by entertaining the notion of John Wick “just trying to escape from New York.” But rather than scaling over 50-foot walls in order to escape a maximum-security prison, Wick will be evading a city of assassins, and if there’s one thing that John Wick: Chapter 2 taught us, it’s that there are many more killers hiding in plain sight than we first anticipated.
“I think the opening of the film should be Wick just trying to escape from New York,” Reeves told Empire. “Literally trying to get off the island. Maybe he asks [Lawrence Fisburne’s character] the Bowery King for help. Maybe John Leguizamo comes and helps me out. “John, I can’t do it, you’re excommunicado!””
As part of the sequel’s world-building, the High Table is consistently referenced as a force to be reckoned with, even if those elusive Powers That Be never actually appear in the film. John Wick: Chapter 3 could change all that though, according to Reeves.
“Maybe the High Table shows up. And then the High Table starts firing guns. And then maybe this kind of thing starts to happen between the High Table and Continental? Maybe John is the activator of this confrontation, and perhaps there’s a war? Wouldn’t that be awesome?!”
Bouncing off those comments, Chad Stahelski continued:
“I’d say, if we were so lucky to continue the series, I’d like to expand the world maybe another 25%,” he explained. “But then I’d like to go deeper into the world that people already know – another 50%.”
John Wick’s sophomore outing scored relatively strong reviews when it stormed into theaters last week. However, it’s really the box office figures that will determine the fate of John Wick: Chapter 3. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the sequel as time wears on but for now, tell us, what would you like to see from Mr. Wick’s third screen outing?