Although the success of theJohn Wickfranchise can mostly be attributed to Keanu Reeves, it wouldn’t exist without screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who wrote the first movie and created the title character, who was named after his maternal grandfather. Kolstad has continued to work on the movie’s sequels, but after his script for the third movie was rewritten by a couple of studio-appointed writers, Kolstad has revealed that he won’t be involved with the fourth and fifth movies at all.
Lionsgate announced last August that the fourth and fifthJohn Wickmovies would shoot back-to-back, with the fourth movie’s 2021 release date getting pushed back to 2022 to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic. In a recent interview with Collider, when asked how far along he was with the scripts for the newJohn Wickmovies, Kolstad surprisingly replied, “I’m actually not involved in4and5.”
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And what’s more, it wasn’t Kolstad’s call. “No, it wasn’t my decision,” he explained. “The third one, I shared the credit with any number of people. [Lionsgate] didn’t have to come back to me, and so they didn’t.” The screenwriter clarified that he’s still on good terms withdirectors Chad Stahelski and David Leitchand that he wishes the franchise the best: “It’s personal, so I’m never going to talk sh*t aboutJohn Wick. I want this thing to survive and thrive… I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see.”
While his involvement with the mainlineJohn Wickmovies is coming to an end, Kolstad did tease that there are going to be significant announcements on the way regardingthe long-awaited Continental-centric TV seriesset in the in-universe hotel that accommodates contract killers. Kolstad said the show will be about “how deep the world goes,” including the origin stories of a few key supporting characters from theJohn Wickfilms. There’s also a spin-off movie in development titledBallerinathat will follow a young female assassin’s quest to avenge her murdered family.Live Free or Die Harddirector Len Wiseman is signed on to helm that one.
Although he won’t be writing anotherJohn Wickmovie any time soon, Kolstad is hardly struggling for work. He wrote a couple of episodes ofThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierthat’ll air in the next few weeks and he’s been tapped to write screen adaptations of theHitman,Just Cause, andSplinter Cellvideo game series. His latest movie,Nobody, starsBetter Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirkas a mild-mannered suburbanite who proves himself to be a John Wick-style badass when his family is terrorized by criminals.
As long asReeves is still playing Baba Yagaand director Stahelski remains at the helm, then there’s still hope for theJohn Wickfranchise. But nobody understands this character better than his creator, so Lionsgate has left the next two movies with big shoes to fill by firing the series’ architect.
John Wick: Chapter 4is scheduled to be released on July 03, 2025.
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