Keanu Reeves has played down rumours that he will return to the acclaimed John Wick franchise for another sequel.
The Canadian actor, 60, played ace assassin John Wick in four films between 2014 and 2023, and is set to briefly reprise the role in the Ana de Armas-fronted spinoff prequel From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.
Reeves’s character was killed off at the end of the fourth John Wick film, John Wick: Chapter 4, but fans have continued to speculate about a prospective return for the character.
Speaking to Extra, Reeves addressed the possibility of reprising his role beyond the small appearance in Ballerina.
“Oh my gosh, well there’s a version of it called Ballerina, which is in the John Wick world, and John wick makes a brief appearance. So, other than that, I have no idea,” he said.
Asked whether he was keen to step back into the part, the Matrix star responded: “You know, the character’s dead. He died in John Wick: Chapter 4. I know, I know, it’s the Hollywood story. Right now, there isn’t [a plan to return].”
The John Wick franchise has drawn wide acclaim for its world-building and audacious action sequences.
In a four-star review of the fourth entry, The Independent’s critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Even at its nearly three-hour runtime, John Wick: Chapter 4 commits so nobly to its self-seriousness that it almost borders into camp.
“And yet, the franchise possesses both the self-confidence and the ingenuity to earn its boldness – even at one point replicating the 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia and its famous cut from a blown-out match to a shimmering expanse of desert.”
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She continued: “Overseen by stunt coordinator Scott Rogers, the action sequences here are better described as massacre marathons. The dialogue is as substantial as a spiderweb’s tendril connecting a line of military tanks.
“And when Chapter 4 slips into outright comedy – like the way a SWAT member’s head repeatedly bounces off a taiko drum to a satisfying thrum – the solemnity of what came before allows the jokes to land all the better.
“[Director Chad] Stahelski has suggested that this may be the very last we see of Wick, the franchise branching off into spin-off films and television shows. If that’s the case, it will be a cinematic legacy well secured.”
Ballerina is slated for a theatrical release on 7 June.
