'John Wick: Chapter 4' Ending, Explained: Is Keanu Reeves’ Character Really Dead? (2024)

John Wick will be back... or will he?

John Wick — played by The Matrix’s Keanu Reeves — is a seemingly unkillable anti-hero, but John Wick Chapter 4 appeared to indicate the characters’ death with a somewhat ambiguous ending. However, with a fifth film in development and the revelation that there was an alternate ending shot in which Wick survived, it is increasingly likely that fans may see Wick again.

“We had a different ending,” franchise director Chad Stahelski told Empire.“[The theatrical ending] was the ending Keanu and I wanted, but we shot a different ending. We shot an ending where you actually saw John Wick at the end of the movie. So it was very clear that he was still alive. The audiences we tested with absolutely preferred the ambiguous ending.”

In an interview with Comic Book Movie, Stahelski confirmed that he was editing an extended cut of John Wick: Chapter 4, which could include the alternate ending. A fifth John Wick film has also been confirmed to be in development by Lionsgate, which would further indicate Wick’s return.

Although Reeves and Stahelski initially planned to give Wick "a rest," the former later revealed that they were more open to continuing the franchise — which had its greatest box office success yet with John Wick: Chapter 4 — as long as they can come up with a worthy idea.

“Yeah, Keanu and I have talked,” Stahelski said on Happy Sad Confused. “Keanu, if you ask him right now, ‘Would you do John Wick 5?’ He’d be, ‘F--- yeah!’ But then he’d look and go, ‘Well, what is it? I have no f------ idea.’ ”

The John Wick franchise is one of the most critically acclaimed and popular action franchises of all time, also resulting in a renaissance of Reeves’ career. Reeves’ initial John Wick journey showed his dog, gifted by his late wife Helen, killed by hitmen, inciting Wick to seek vengeance and return to his old ways.

Here’s everything to know about the ending of John Wick: Chapter 4 and whether or not the titular character is really dead.

How did John Wick: Chapter 4 end?

After Wick fought against an increasingly priced open bounty on his head since John Wick: Chapter 2, he knew he needed a way out from a life indebted to the High Table — an international assassin’s guild.

Winston Scott (Ian McShane), the manager of the Continental Hotel — a safe haven for those in the assassin-based underworld — informed Wick that he could challenge a high-ranking member of the High Table called the Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) to a duel for Wick to finally secure his freedom.

After an all-night brawl against Parisian assassins trying to earn a payday by killing Wick, he made it to the duel with his former friend and associate Caine (Donnie Yen). The two engaged in a duel with pistols in a western-style standoff taking place during sunrise at Sacré-Couer, which ultimately sees Wick fall after taking a third bullet from Caine.

Despite Wick lying on the ground incredibly injured, it is revealed he saved his third bullet to kill the Marquis de Gramont, which freed him and Caine of their debts to the High Table.

John Wick: Chapter 4 seemingly ended with Wick’s death, even showing his gravesite, with the words “loving husband,” which he requested be put on his gravestone earlier in the film.

Winston also smirked as he said, “Farewell, my son,” while touching the gravestone, and Wick’s dog turned back as though looking at something while departing the grave.

“Yes, that is a very deliberate shot with the dog. That's meant, in my little mind, to [mess] with you a little bit, because ambiguity, like is he still [alive] or not?” Stahelski told Comic Book Movie. “It's a story about fate and consequence.”

What happened to John Wick and what does this mean for him?

Wick appeared to die at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. However, there is no burial and his on-screen “death” shows him keeling over from afar.

He has also overcome worse, including when he was also shot three times by Winston and fell off a roof at the end of John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum. “You know, we’ve seen John take worse injuries,” Stahelski told Empire.

Since John Wick finally earned freedom from his life as an assassin working for the High Table, the idea of him faking his own death to live a quiet life in peace seems to make sense. In fact, Reeves said that he hopes the character finds peace, though he can't rule out a return as Wick.

"I don't know, I guess I'm going to have to lean on never say never," Reeves told Entertainment Weekly. "I mean, I wouldn't do a John Wick film without Chad Stahelski. We'd have to see what that looked like. For me, it feels really right that John Wick finds peace."

Wick is now free from being an assassin working under the High Table, but a constant theme in the John Wick films is consequences. With all the enemies Wick has made, if he did live, he may have to face the repercussions of his actions to truly experience tranquility.

Will there be a John Wick 5?

Despite what looked like John Wick’s death, John Wick 5 appears to be happening. In 2023, Lionsgate announced that John Wick 5 was in the early stages, among other franchise projects.

“What is official is that, as you know, Ballerina is the first spinoff that comes out next year. We’re in development on three others, including [John Wick 5] and including television series, The Continental,” former Lionsgate chair Joe Drake said, per The Hollywood Reporter.

He continued, "So, we're building out the world and when that [fifth] movie comes, [it] will be organic — will be organically grown out of how we're starting to tell those stories. But you can rely on a regular cadence of John Wick."

While it appears fans will have to wait for John Wick 5, there will be plenty of John Wick material to hold fans over. Ballerina will star Ana De Armas as a ballerina assassin similar to John Wick, elaborating on the Ballerinas introduced in John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.

The film will be set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, with Reeves’ Wick returning as a supporting character. This may be the last viewers see of Wick as they know him because franchise producer Basil Iwanyk told ScreenRant that the next film will be set a long time after the end of John Wick: Chapter 4.

“If there is another John Wick movie, which I do believe there will be ... I do feel like it will be a completely other book,” he said. “If these movies were four chapters, you kind of blame it on the metaphor. The next John Wick will be another book. It won’t be like six months later from John Wick: Chapter 4.

What implications does John Wick: Chapter 4’s post-credits scene with Caine have for the franchise?

In May 2024, it was announced that the blind assassin Caine will have his own spinoff. Like his friend Wick, Caine got out of the assassin life under the High Table before being pulled back in.

Caine wants nothing more than to protect his beloved daughter from those involved with the life he tried to leave behind. While Caine earned his freedom in the duel with Wick, a post-credits scene sees Shimazu Akira, daughter of Shimazu Koji — played by Shōgun’s Hiroyuki Sanada — pull out a knife while walking toward Caine.

While Wick was trying to seek refuge in the Osaka Continental Hotel, Caine had promised the High Table that he would hunt Wick down, killing Koji with a samurai sword in the process. Akira swore to avenge her father’s death, and Caine will likely have to deal with this in his spinoff film, set for a 2025 release.

“While the logline is being kept under wraps, the new film will continue Yen’s story arc following the events of John Wick: Chapter 4, as Caine has been freed from his obligations to the High Table,” Adam Fogelson, Chair of Lionsgate said in an official statement.