John Wick: Chapter 4 was meant to be the finale, but Keanu Reeves wanted his character dead. Wick has a slim chance.John Wick: Chapter 4 appeared to be the last chapter for the Assassin.
Following his final defeat of the High Table, Keanu Reeves' John Wick fell on the Sacre Coeur stairs in Paris. And that's what Reeves wanted, says franchise producer Basil Iwanyk.
Reeves is fatigued after making these flicks because he puts his heart into the stunts and acting. By Chapter 4, he was exhausted, and Iwanyk said that Reeves wanted Wick to be “definitively” killed off at the end of the film so he could rest.
While promoting the Wick spin-off, The Continental, Iwanyk told Collider's Christina Radish that they couldn't let Wick go, so they left a slight opportunity for him to survive.
“After the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movie, making these films is so exhausting and destroys Keanu, physically and emotionally,” Iwanyk remarked.
We agree with him when he says, ‘I can’t do this again,’ towards the end. He's a shell because he just goes for it. He said, ‘I wanna be definitively dead at the end of this movie.’ “You know, we'll leave a 10% little opening.”
The John Wick director also remarked that the producers and filmmakers' longtime friendship made them reluctant to stop the franchise since they would miss working together on the next picture. He likened Stahelski and Reeves to The Beatles and expressed his desire to wait till they came up with another Wick tale idea before continuing work.
“We've all become such good friends and like each other so much, and we're all so tickled by the critical and commercial success of these movies that we all think, ‘Okay, how do we get the band back together, in a way that merits a good story in the next evolution of John.’
Keanu and Chad [Stahelski] are now figuring out the story. Like Paul McCartney and John Lennon, I'm Ringo. They'll phone to say, "All right, we're coming." Our story begins here, where you arrive.”