'John Wick: Chapter 4' director details how he created 4th film with Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves starrer John Wick: Chapter 4, which is garnering praises from the fans and critics since its release on March 24, was created during a drink session with the director.

The director on the film Chad Stahelski explained how he came up with the idea of the 4th film of the John Wick franchise while having a whiskey with the film's main lead Reeves.

In a recent interview with The Big Picture podcast, Stahelski revealed that John Wick 3-Parabellum was initially planned to be the last film, however, it changed after he and Reeves started sharing whiskey in Tokyo during the third film's Japanese premiere.

"Keanu and I finished number 3 and were like, 'Whew! We're good.' And then it was literally like 4 or 5 months later, the movie had come out, it had did what it did, people seemed to like it and we felt pretty satisfied at that one like, 'Okay. Whew. Dodged a bullet, we're all good, we're pretty content,'" Stahelski said. 

The director continued sharing that after receiving a considerable acclaim for John Wick 3, which opened very late in Japan, both Reeves and Stahelski were at the Imperial Hotel bar, discussing their feelings about the franchise.

As their chat continued while having the drinks, the ideas for a potential 4th film started popping up. "And then we're sitting there, we're in Japan, two drinks in you're like, 'What if John Wick met a samurai? Or a ninja? We should do an Osaka continental!'"

Stahelski further revealed that the two began to trade even more chaotic and "goofy" ideas. 

"And you're joking about it, drinking and we start, I guess our way to hang out and have fun is just riffing on goofy ideas, 'What if he was a cyborg? John Wick in space!' And you start having these ludicrous conversations" he added.

After this interesting exchange of ideas, Reeves approached Stahelski with hopes to move forward with a 4th film. The duo then workshopped ideas for Chapter 4 while in Japan.

However, the 4th instalment in the John Wick franchise was initially slated for a late 2021 release but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the production was pushed back.