John Wick 4 Director Explains How He Chose the Film’s Ending

The following article contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4

For the past four John Wick movies, since the first one premiered back in 2014 to universal acclaim, audiences around the world have continued to be ever astonished and enamored with Keanu Reeves‘ robust performances and his unflinching commitment to all of his own stunts and fight sequences. The franchise has proven to be the actor’s renaissance in the action film genre, and it has definitely paid off on every front. John Wick: Chapter 4 built on everything that’s made the film series so unique a hundred-fold, with the most impressive stunts yet coupled with the longest runtime, and used it all to bring Wick’s story to a very poetic and fulfilling close. However, it turns out that ending could have been something different. Per a report from Collider, director Chad Stahelski revealed how there was an alternate ending that could have wound up in the final cut, but he chose to follow the response from a test screening rather than the executives at Lionsgate.

Related: New John Wick Universe Spin-offs and Sequels Teased by Producer

Chad Stahelski has been the dedicated creative mind behind the John Wick franchise since the beginning. With lead star Keanu Reeves supporting him at every step, he’s known where the franchise needed to go in terms of Wick’s journey back into the dangerous world he once fought to leave. Of course, with the immense box office success of the series that has only grown with each installment, studio heads at Lionsgate have been nothing short of eager to keep the story of John Wick going for as long as possible. However, there have been plenty of examples in the film industry to prove that more isn’t always better, and Stahelski has clearly been mindful of potentially falling into that trap. He has since disclosed that he and Reeves want to let the series rest for now while a number of upcoming spin-offs like The Continental and Ballerina flesh out the John Wick universe from different perspectives.

The Pressure to Keep John Wick Alive

Stahelski also revealed in his interview with Collider that there was an alternate ending written and shot for Chapter 4, due to pressure from executives at Lionsgate. In contrast to the final cut, the alternate one would have seen Wick emerge from his final confrontation with Caine (Donnie Yen) and the Marquis (Bill Skarsgard) clearly alive and able to press on for yet another sequel. However, after a test screening in front of an audience, the response clearly favored the final cut that saw Wick still victorious but succumb to his numerous wounds from both the fight to get to the church and the gun duel that delivered a fatal shot. Stahelski described the process of shooting both endings and deciding John Wick’s fate.

“I got a lot of faces. I mean, I have a very good relationship with Lionsgate. They’re great, they’ve been very supportive, but I don’t think any exec or any producer in the world would smile when you say you’re gonna kill off their successful franchise character. […] But, you want to have that confrontation, like, ‘Look, this is what’s right,’ but you’ve got to see it from their side, too. […] But you know, ‘Let me try to execute it the way we are. Let me build the story around it and I’ll do you a solid. I’ll tell you what, I’ll shoot the ending two ways, you know, with one extra little thing, two extra little shots. I’ll let you know he’s alive, and I’m gonna leave it up to the audience to decide, and we’re gonna test both.’ […] And they were super cool. They let me go through the whole movie. […] … and you know, the test audience has definitely had a favorite of that, which is the ending that you guys saw, and it was nice to show and get actual feedback […] And everyone was very understanding of that, and it was good to come to that conclusion together without having to fight it or force it.”

While the main story of John Wick has come to a close (for now), various spin-offs are set to debut starting with the three-part prequel series The Continental in September, which as its name suggests will dive into the origins of the hotel empire and its role in the world of assassins.