This weekend, a new film from the world of John Wick is coming to theaters. It’s called Ballerina and we’re guessing you’ve heard about it. But two years ago, did you hear about a full-fledged John Wick streaming series that was on Peacock? Maybe not. The Continental: From the World of John Wick debuted on the streamer in 2023 to average reviews and tepid audience response. It has yet to return.
Part of that is probably because two of the most crucial people involved in the John Wick franchise, star Keanu Reeves and co-creator/director/current overseer Chad Stahelski, were not actively involved. And, in a new interview talking about both Ballerina and a new documentary called Wick is Pain, Stahelski sounds more than a little bummed about it.
“Keanu and I were—I wouldn’t say sidelined, but our opinion was heard and not really noted,” Stahelski told the Hollywood Reporter. “[The studio] tried to convince me they knew what they were doing. A group of individuals thought they had the magic sauce. But if you take out Basil Iwanyk’s producing intuitiveness, if you take out Keanu’s way of delivering quirky dialogue and if you take out all the visuals I have in my head from Wong Kar-wai, anime, Leone, Bernardo Bertucci or Andrei Tchaikovsky … then it’s not the same thing. They thought this was as easy as using anamorphic lenses, do a kooky hotel, put in weird dialogue, and insert crime drama.”
Chad Stahelski on the set of John Wick 2 with Keanu Reeves – Lionsgate
Stahelski continued, admitting his way of doing things doesn’t always line up with the status quo. “If you saw our process, you’d be like, ‘You’re telling me this billion-dollar franchise does it this way?’” he said. “I’m scouting my next film in London and we saw a cool location yesterday which totally changed the second act. We rewrote the whole thing. I find great cast members and rewrite their parts constantly. That’s what makes [the movies] so good and organic—we’re constantly upgrading. But the studio likes to know what they’re getting for their buck and want to lock a script for budget reasons. While we’re saying, ‘Just write the check, we’ll see you at the finish line.’”
Which, it sounds like, was the case with The Continental. It was not the case, however, with Ballerina, in which both Stahelski and Reeves were involved. And it will not be the case with a potential John Wick 5, which Stahelski knows everyone wants, but he’s still not completely sold on.
“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a bit of a conundrum,” he said about bringing Wick, who died in the last film, back. “Me and Mike Finch— the writer on 4 who’s also writing 5—we’ve got a pretty good story that I think is cool. Once we have a 50-page book, and if we’re feeling it, we’ll sit with Keanu and shape this thing. Look, everybody seems to want it. It’s a matter of whether we crack it. We’re actively working on it. It’s just … is it going to be satisfying?”
As for John Wick 5, we’ll have to wait and see. But if you head over to the Hollywood Reporter we promise the rest of Stahelski’s interview is incredibly satisfying.
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