Keanu Reeves’ request to be killed in the finale of John Wick 4 was only partially accepted by the producers of the franchise.
John Wick producer Basil Iwanyk revealed to Collider that Keanu Reeves ha begged the team so that its character was killed at the end of John Wick 4but his request was not heard.
“After the second, third and fourth films, making this saga is so exhausting that it destroys Keanu physically and emotionally”Iwanyk said. “At the end he always says ‘I can’t do this again,’ and we agree with him. This time he asked us ‘I want to be killed permanently at the end of this movie.'”.
“But we said, ‘We’ll leave a small 10% chance that he lives.'” added the producer.
What happens to John Wick in the ending of John Wick 4?
John Wick 4 ended with a spectacular fight involving Keanu Reeves and the Grand Table hitmen. John is hit in the third round of the duel and apparently dies on the steps of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Paris, while his late wife, Helen, appears to him in a vision. The film then cuts to the final scene where Winston (Ian McShane) and Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) visit John’s gravestone.
In an interview with Empire magazine earlier this year, director Chad Stahelski revealed that a more explicit ending had been filmed and tested that implied John Wick survived the fight.
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“We shot a different ending where it’s clear that John is alive”has explained. “The test screening audience, however, preferred the ambiguous ending”. This choice, however, leaves the way open to the hypothesis of a John Wick 5, which will not be made without Keanu Reeves, as Lionsgate clarifies.