While director Chad Stahelski has been behind the camera of every John Wick movie and Keanu Reeves is obviously the face of the franchise, the whole thing began with Derek Kolstad. The screenwriter wrote the original screenplay and concocted this entire world of international assassins, cool hotels, mysterious monetary denominations, and bulletproof suits. But it sounds like Kolstad’s time with the franchise is over, because in a new interview, he has revealed that he will not be writing the scripts for the previously announced John Wick 4 and John Wick 5.
And if you’re dying for more info about the John Wick spin-off TV series The Continental, it sounds like you won’t have to wait very long before you hear some concrete information about it.
In an interview with Collider, Kolstad was asked where he was in the writing process of John Wick 4 and John Wick 5, but he surprisingly responded, “I’m actually not involved in four and five.”
“At a certain stage of the studio will tell you, your creation is graduated, and you wish it well,” Kolstad explained. “I’m still close with Chad, still close with Dave, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see.”
According to the writer, it was not his plan to step away from the franchise – that’s a call that was made by Lionsgate.
“No, it wasn’t my decision,” he said. “When you think of the [contracts] of these things, the third one I shared the credit with any number of people, they didn’t have to come back to me, and so they didn’t. And so you look at that and you could be hurt, and I would – say, if I was 20 years ago – I would have been, but seeing what the industry is and how things go, I just believe that you bless everything and hope it all the best, and to the players involved who are doing other things elsewhere. And yeah, it’s personal, so I’m never going to talk shit about John Wick. I want this thing to survive and thrive.”
The John Wick franchise plans to expand beyond the fourth and fifth movies with Ballerina, the first spin-off movie set in that universe. Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman is directing that film, which “focuses on a young female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.” And don’t forget about the long-gestating TV series The Continental, set at the movie’s chain of sleek assassin-only hotels.
“They’re about to make some pretty large announcements in the next couple of weeks in regards to what’s going to happen there,” Kolstad said about the TV series. He confirmed that it is still happening, and also revealed that “[The show is] about how deep the world goes, and not just about assassins but everything that’s included. And a lot of the origin stories are some of the characters that you see in [John Wick].” Stay tuned.
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