Confirmed: Keanu Reeves to Star in ‘John Wick 5’

UPDATE: Lionsgate has announced that Keanu Reeves is set to return for “John Wick 5.” No word yet on when production would begin, but Chad Stahelski is officially coming back for this one. Stahelski has to direct two films — “Highlander” and an untitled bank robbery project — before he can enter production on the fifth ‘Wick.’

Not just that, Lionsgate will be milking the Wick-verse ad nauseum. There’s already “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas, coming out this summer, and now another spin-off, “Caine,” is moving forward with Donnie Yen set to direct and star. The film will be stylistically modeled like Yen’s previous action films.

There will also be an animated “John Wick” prequel directed by Shannon Tindle (‘Kubo and the Two Strings’). Reeves will return to voice the character. Tindle’s film deals with Wick killing all of his rivals in one night to free himself from the High Table

EARLIER: The R-rated, nearly 3-hour, “John Wick: Chapter 4” grossed almost $200M domestically, and nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. In modern-day Hollywood, a franchise IP not greenlighting another film after those numbers is almost unheard of.

Despite Wick, presumably, dead and buried in ‘Chapter 4,’ here comes word that a fifth John Wick movie is apparently happening. Only in Hollywood can the dead suddenly reappear.

Jenefer Brown, Head of Global Products & Experiences at Lionsgate, has indeed, and quite shamelessly, confirmed “John Wick: Chapter 5” is in the works at a preview event for the John Wick Experience in Las Vegas.

“This world continues to grow and expand in incredible ways,” told ComicBook. “Up next, of course, we have Ballerina, which is our first spin-off movie and [we] can’t wait for that to release to the world. Of course, we’ve announced we’re working on a fifth John Wick film.”

When pressed, she shared, “We’re developing a fifth John Wick film … [John Wick] may be [dead]. We are all on baited breath waiting to find out.”

This is counter to what Keanu Reeves recently said about a potential fifth ‘Wick’ (“The character is dead. He died.”). Another instalment cannot happen without Reeves’ involvement. I gather that Lionsgate is ready to pay the actor a handsome sum of money for him to change his mind.

Something tells me Lionsgate needs “John Wick 5” to happen much more than Keanu. The studio is coming off a 2024 filled with epic box office failures like “The Crow,” “Borderlands,” “Megalopolis,” “Never Let Go,” and “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.”

Back in December, a report from Bloomberg insinuated that Lionsgate was now considering a potential sale. Whether Keanu is up for it, or not, “John Wick 5” being in development certainly makes a potential deal much more attractive.