Keanu Reeves “begged” for John Wick to die but studio couldn’t face it

Keanu Reeves desperately wanted John Wick to do in the latest film, but the studio couldn’t let a “legend” of a character go.

The John Wick franchise is one of the highest grossing action films with its latest entry — John Wick: Chapter 4 — premiering this year.

The franchise follows the highly deadly assassin John Wick as he first seeks revenge for the murder of his dog and then as he tries to escape the clutches of various dangerous killers.

Though a fifth movie is in the works, it has been revealed that Keanu Reeves, the star of the franchise, really wanted his character to die, but the studio wouldn’t have it.

Reeves begged for Wick to be killed in Chapter 4

While promoting the new John Wick spin-off mini series The Continental, the franchise’s producer, Basil Iwanyk, sat down with Collider to discuss Chapter 4’s ending and how Reeves wanted to see his character meet his end.

“After the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movie, making these films is so exhausting and it destroys Keanu, physically and emotionally,” Iwanyk said, “By the end, he’s always like, ‘I can’t do this again,’ and we agree with him.

The guy is just a shell of himself because he just goes off and goes for it. He was like, ‘I wanna be definitively killed at the end of this movie.’ We were like, ‘You know, we’ll leave a 10% little opening.'”

Chapter 4 ended with John finally beating the High Table — the organization that put a bounty on his head — and seeming to succumb to his many fatal injuries.

So, it seems like there’s a good chance we’ll see Reeves in the fifth installment as Iwanyk explained that he, Reeves, and Chad Stahelski (the franchise’s directors) are “such good friends” and they’re always thinking, ‘Okay, how do we get the band back together, in a way that merits a good story in the next evolution of John.'”

For more John Wick: Chapter 4 coverage, check out the articles below:

Review | Is John Wick based on a true story? | Killa explained | Ranking the movies | Is there a post-credits scene? | Marquis explained | Ballerina cameo | How long is Chapter 4? | Caine explained | Potential Chapter 5 | What happens to Charon? | 13 Best John Wick kills | Post-credit scene explained | Does the dog die? | Keanu Reeves on emotional ending | Movies to watch if you like JW | John Wick: Chapter 5