As audiences eagerly await the two facing off on screen, director Chad Stahelski is teasing new details for Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen's John Wick 4 fight. Reeves is returning to lead the ensemble cast of the upcoming action sequel as the titular former assassin who was pulled out of his quiet life of retirement by the son of a mobster killing the puppy gifted to him by his late wife. Plot details are currently unknown for John Wick 4, though it is expected to continue from the cliffhanger ending of Chapter 3 — Parabellum as Reeves' protagonist gears up to go to war with the High Table after being shot and left for dead by Winston and the Adjudicator.
Alongside Reeves, John Wick 4 will see the franchise returns of Laurence Fishburne as The Bowery King, Ian McShane as New York's Continental Hotel manager Winston and Lance Reddick as its concierge, Charon. The film will also mark the franchise debuts of Rina Sawayama, Donnie Yen, Shamier Anderson, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins and Clancy Brown. With John Wick 4 adding a whole host of action genre vets to its roster, anticipation for the film has only grown throughout its filming and now audiences are learning more about what's to come from the upcoming sequel.
While appearing at Collider's Directors on Directing Panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Chad Stahelski offered some exciting teases of what's to come from John Wick 4. In looking at the various combat seen in the film's trailer, the director recalled his excitement in filming Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen's fight and shared new details of what's to come from the sequence. See what Stahelski said below:
"Well, again, the 18-year-old me would have been like, 'Oh, my God, I can't believe I'd do this.' That's, I'm not going to lie, I giggle. I'd make jokes all the time. It's like Donnie would come up with a question, I'd start giggling. He's like, 'What's wrong with you, man?' I was, 'I'm directing Donnie Yen, what do you think I'm doing?' So, I'm standing in between, you've got Donnie Yen and you got Keanu Reeves, and you're touching hands with all of them, blocking out stuff. And you're like, 'Holy shit. Those are really real.'So, it always comes down to, I can do the Donnie Yen triple kick. I can do all this, but you also want to do something different. So, you start sitting, you come at it from character, and you have a lot of discussions with the guys going, 'Okay, Donnie is amazing at this. Keanu is amazing at this. They're both great actors, so let's lean onto that, and let's do something we haven't seen before.' So now, that Donnie Yen with a sword and a pistol and Keanu with a samurai sword and a couple of pistols and throwing an AR-15 and a glass mirror room with Japanese artifacts. And yeah, throw in a couple of dogs, and let's see what happens."
While details for most of the new cast members has been kept largely under wraps throughout its filming and development, the first John Wick 4 trailer released during SDCC offered some insight for who would act as an ally for Reeves and who would be working against him. Yen's character seemed to be working in favor of the High Table, being seated next to Skarsgård's still undisclosed character and going toe-to-toe with Reeves in the footage. Interestingly, the trailer also showed Yen facing off against Hiroyuki Sanada's yet-unnamed character, seemingly indicating that the Mortal Kombat star will act as an ally for Wick in the film.
Stahelski's excitement for filming Keanu Reeves and Donnie Yen's fight in John Wick 4 is sure to resonate well with action genre fans, namely with his tease of the various instruments used in the sequence, including an AR-15 and dogs. Though some may see the inclusion of the latter as a potential hint of Halle Berry's return from John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, the Oscar winner previously confirmed she wouldn't be returning in the sequel, but has left the door open for a potential spinoff or other franchise appearance. Audiences will have to keep their eyes peeled for further John Wick 4 details leading up to its March 24, 2023 release.
Source: Collider
