Keanu Reeves Will Return for ‘John Wick 5’ as Franchise Expands to Animation

Keanu Reeves‘ action-packed John Wick movies are getting at least one more installment. On Tuesday, during CinemaCon, Lionsgate announced that Reeves will return to the film franchise for John Wick 5.

“Keanu, Chad, Basil and Erica would not return unless they had something truly phenomenal and fresh to say with these characters and this world,” said Lionsgate exec Adam Fogelson, per Variety. Producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee added: “It’s so important to get this story right and give John’s story the proper next step. It’s exciting to take the first step on that road.”

Lionsgate has yet to reveal a production timeline nor additional cast members for the upcoming Wick film.

According to Variety, the John Wick franchise will also expand to an animated series set to be a sort of prequel to the films which started premiering in 2014. The animation is set before the first movie. “I feel John Wick is the perfect property for this medium,” said director Chad Stahelski in a statement, per USA Today. “Anime holds the potential to expand our world, our characters and our action in ways unimaginable before.”

The film will also do a spinoff of the blind assassin Caine in a self-titled film directed by Donnie Yen, who’ll reprise his role in the new flick.

“As a fan, why I enjoy watching him is this duality he has. He’ll play the badass, the goof, or whatever it is, and you like him. Why can he shoot 100 people in the face and you still like him?” Stahelski told Rolling Stone of Reeves in a 2023 interview. “It’s a hard question to answer, because I know him personally and have been with him since The Matrix films, but I think John Wick is the closest thing to the actual Keanu Reeves.”

From Rolling Stone US.