The following contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4, now playing in theaters.
After starting nearly a decade ago, the John Wick series has become one of the biggest action franchises of modern cinema. Spanning four films -- and a number of spinoffs currently in production -- John Wick has been slowly expanding to introduce a wider scope of the world and the killers that inhabit it along the way. But just because the latest film in the series ends on a specific note of closure for its central story doesn't mean the world is over.
John Wick: Chapter 4 ends with a concrete conclusion for the titular anti-hero, having found the peace and closure he's been seeking throughout the entire series. But while John's story may be -- and in all honesty should be -- finished, that doesn't mean the John Wick franchise has to end. In fact, the ending sets up plenty of potential directions to explore going forward and future stories that deal with the fallout of John's demise.
Chapter 4 Closes the Book on John Wick's Story
John Wick: Chapter 4 sees the titular killer traveling the globe once again, trying to break loose of the constraints and the constant danger he's found himself in since he broke the laws of The High Table in John Wick: Chapter 2. The path of death that he leaves in his wake only highlights how desperate he has become to escape the world of killers -- and his attempts draw undue attention to his allies, ultimately getting Shimazu Koji and Charon killed on the orders of the Marquis Vincent de Gramont. But John is able to ensure his best chance at escape by forcing a duel between himself and the Marquis, with the upper-crust villain making Caine carry it out for him.
Caine "wins" the duel by fatally wounding John with three gunshots, but this lures the Marquis into a moment of weakness that John takes advantage of to kill him -- allowing John to also "win" and ensure Winston's survival and his freedom from The High Table. However, it's ultimately a pyrrhic victory for John. Making it to the stairs of the church where the duel was held, John has time to watch the sunrise and think about his wife Helen before finally fading away -- dying on the stairs.
How the John Wick Series Can Continue Without Its Titular Character
The final moments of John Wick: Chapter 4 remove any ambiguity in the sequence, with Winston and the Bowery King returning to New York City and burying their friend with his wife. John's demise is clearly the end of his story -- and it's an effective one. Finally freed from the world he'd spent so long trying to escape, John can finally know peace and even had the chance to find it before he found the grave, defying the predictions of almost everyone he encountered over the series. While much of John's backstory remains a mystery, it would likely lack the blunt drive and reluctant empathy that made John such a compelling character in the present day. The ending of John Wick: Chapter 4 is a solid closing chapter for John Wick, the character. But that doesn't mean it has to be the end of the world introduced in John Wick.
The series' producers seem to agree, with Ana de Armas' The Ballerina set to expand the universe while a series focused on the origins of the Continental Hotel will debut on Peacock. Both are interesting ways to expand the world of The High Table and allow it to do so outside of John's shadow, but there's something to be said for touching on what happens to John's world following his demise. Even though figures like Winston have been placed back into the system and the laws of The High Table have been adhered to, John's defiance against the Maquis might make him a legend and crack the infallible and unflappable image The High Table had developed over the centuries. That could allow people like the Bowery King or John's adopted sister Katia to take advantage of the chaos and become more powerful.
Furthermore, there's the question of what happens to Mr. Nobody (a gifted young assassin who ultimately takes John's side and even saves his life during the film) Akira, the daughter of Koji -- who last appears in the film's post-credits sequence moving to take revenge on Caine for killing her father. If she survives the attack, Akira could decide to cause more damage to the organization that betrayed her and doomed her mentor, employer and father. There's a lot of life and potential left in the John Wick franchise, with plenty of other corners of the globe and pieces of history worth exploring.
Characters like Mr. Nobody, Akira and Katia all have great potential, along with the newly emboldened power players like Winston and the Bowery King. But John himself should be left buried and at peace -- and the temptation to include him in too much of the franchise's other offerings might not be the best idea. Instead, the future of the series might be in genuinely exploring the future of the setting and dealing with the fallout of John's actions in his final outing.
To see the end of John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.