Exciting news for all you action aficionados out there today – Lionsgate has just announced that John Wick star Keanu Reeves, directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski and scribe Derek Kolstad are all reteaming for follow-up John Wick 2.
The first film, released last year, was one of 2014’s most unexpected surprises, a supremely stylish and satisfying action-thriller with enough brains to offset its brawn, and so it’s absolutely fantastic to see that the same creative forces behind it are back in the saddle. Ever since John Wick was released, Leitch and Stahelski have been courted for all kinds of projects, including Valiant comic adaptation Bloodshot and an unspecified DC Comics movie previously (and seemingly inaccurately) thought to be Aquaman.
As such, it speaks volumes about their passion for John Wick that the duo would come back to helm the sequel. Jason Constantine, Lionsgate’s President of Acquisitions and Co-productions, expressed his delight at the deal, stating:
“With such tremendous fan and critical support for ‘John Wick,’ we knew that there was still so much more of this story to tell. We are thrilled that Keanu, David and Chad have re-teamed with us and promise to bring audiences even more excitement the second time around.”
The first John Wick found the titulat hitman getting his revenge on the sadistic mobsters who killed his puppy, which had been a present from Wick’s late wife. With that business taken care of, the sky’s the limit for where a follow-up could go, but one would expect that the Continental, a shadowy organization of assassins, will play a role after having been introduced in the first film.
No release date or schedule has been announced for the pic, though that’s surely on the way. Reeves is currently filming Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon, and he has The Bad Batch and a TV series called Rain lined up, but he’ll be sure to get to John Wick 2 soon enough. In the meantime, sound off below with where you want to see the sequel go.