As the franchise’s future plans slowly unfurl, Ian McShane addresses the recent John Wick 5 reports. Keanu Reeves’ most recent outing, Chapter 4, memorably ended in a dramatic duel between the titular assassin and Donnie Yen’s Caine in an effort to win his freedom from the High Table’s grasp, resulting in John being victorious but seemingly succumbing to his wounds and dying. Despite this fitting closure, Lionsgate has been pushing forward with development on a John Wick 5, including inking a major deal with director Chad Stahelski to oversee the franchise as well as his Highlander reboot.

During a recent interview with the Golden Globe winner for his new thriller American Star, McShane was asked his thoughts on the recent John Wick 5 reports. The star admitted that he hoped the franchise would move away from Reeves’ character, feeling that he “deserves a good rest as long as he wants”, though acknowledged that a fifth movie is inevitable. Check out what McShane said below:

I think Keanu deserves a good rest as long as he wants. I spoke to him the other day, he’s resting for a while after the beating he’s taken over the last 10 years from all the assassins of the world. Let him rest until he decides to rise from his grave once again, or wherever he sleeps, because really, I’m his father, and he’s the vampire. So, I’m Vlad, The Impaler. [Laughs] There’s a whole horror film to be made out of this. Everything can zoom into something else. There’s no rules.

How John Wick 5 Could Bring Back Keanu Reeves (Even If It Shouldn’t)

Given the emotional nature of Chapter 4‘s ending, there has been some division among longtime fans of the franchise whether a John Wick 5 should even be made. Reeves and Stahelski themselves have been wary about rushing development on another sequel in the year since the last movie came out, fearing the possibility of undoing the prior movie’s ending, even while acknowledging having ideas for upwards of five follow-ups. Franchise producer Basil Iwanyk previously gave Screen Rant an optimistic update on the potential fifth movie in November 2023, including its potential timeline:

So I think that what I love about the end of John Wick 4 is, if this means that there’s never another John Wick movie, it’s a nice elegant way of ending it, right? If there is another John Wick movie, which I do believe there will be, we don’t know what it is yet, but I do believe. I do feel like it will be a completely other book. 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 4. We just don’t know what that is.

With Iwanyk’s indication that the next movie would pick up sometime after the events of its predecessor, there are a variety of ways in which Reeves could return for a John Wick 5. The most likely path would be the revelation that Wick is not actually dead, but instead that he, Winston and the rest of their core group collaborated to fake the assassin’s death, thus giving him the ultimate chance to enjoy a peaceful life. It’s unclear what would subsequently draw him back into the hitman world, but this still remains one of the lesser ridiculous options for his return.

The other potential option for Reeves’ return in a John Wick 5 would go the prequel route and explore his early years as an assassin with The High Table. Though this risks undermining much of the mystique of Wick’s backstory, it could prevent hurting what Stahelski and co. did with Chapter 4‘s ending. It could even open the door for further stories both for the central character and other areas of the franchise’s unique world, as Lionsgate continues moving forward with new spinoffs.