When one thinks about the smallish goals of the first John Wick movie, it’s incredible to see how huge that franchise has become. Each movie has made more than the last at the box office, and the mythology built in each films has grown exponentially, culminating with the epic John Wick: Chapter 4. While that’s looking increasingly likely to be the final chapter, the franchise is far from dead. There is a TV series spinoff, The Continental, and a spinoff movie, Ballerina, led by Ana de Armas. But that’s hardly going to be the last of them.
John Wick: Chapter 4 introduces a number of characters that could lead their own movies or TV shows. Producer Erica Lee in a conversation with ScreenRant, talks about one of them, Akira, played by Rina Sawayama, and Laurence Fishburne’s The Bowery King, who has been around since Chapter 2.
“Yeah, I think the world of the Bowery King [played by Fishburne] and the Bowery is something that we’re really interested in exploring more of,” said Lee. “He sort of runs the underground, and it’s such an interesting world. How does he get the guns and the boats? He shows up everywhere. He’s the leader; he has homeless running the streets and information through pigeons. He’s low-tech and analog in a digital world, and he knows everyone and gets everywhere. I think that is something that’s really interesting to explore.”
Lee continued, “The character of Akira [played by Rina Sawayama] really pops in the movie, and I’d love to sort of see some further adventures with her character. There’s a lot! There’s a lot of characters in ‘John Wick 4,’ and a lot of fan favorites from movies of the past. There’s definitely a lot of stuff we want to dig deeper into.”
It was already cool to see Fishburne and Reeves reunite outside of The Matrix. But it would also be really interesting to learn more about The Bowery, which is one of the least explored aspects of the Wick universe.
Sawayama is a relative newcomer to acting, but she is quite a scene-stealer and could easily command a film all to herself. Her character, Akira, has a vengeful motivation, as well, that could make her a new sympathetic favorite similar to Wick.
Finally, Lee confirmed to Collider that another John Wick spinoff is in the works and could be announced very soon…
There is another film that we’re developing that I think we’ll be announcing in the next, say, month or two. Then, I’m hopeful there’s a ‘Ballerina 2,’ and ‘John Wick 5,’ and lots of other things. But we’re developing a lot of stuff and having a lot of discussions with a lot of writers and brand management and Wick universe is my utmost priority.”
