John Wick: Chapter 4 Director Confirms Alternate Ending Was Filmed and Tested With Audiences

Ever since the first John Wick back in 2014, the franchise has delivered audiences a number of shocking and surprising sequences, which includes John Wick: Chapter 4 and its ending delivering some major ramifications for the franchise’s future. Director Chad Stahelski recently confirmed that he filmed a slightly alternate version of the finale and tested it with audiences, which resulted in him keeping the version of the conclusion that landed in theaters just last week. Based on the details about that alternate ending the filmmaker revealed, it’s unclear if that version will be released on home video, as it would seem the difference is merely a handful of shots to make the finale slightly less ambiguous. John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.

WARNING: Major spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 below

In the theatrical release of the film, Keanu Reeves’ Wick suffers seemingly fatal injuries, as the final scenes of the film feature a tombstone reading “John Wick.” The alternate ending, though, featured some shots that imply Wick survived the encounter in a more direct way.

“I got a lot of faces. I mean, I have a very good relationship with Lionsgate. They’re great, they’ve been very supportive, but I don’t think any exec or any producer in the world would smile when you say you’re gonna kill off their successful franchise character,” Stahelski shared with Collider. “But, you want to have that confrontation, like, ‘Look, this is what’s right,’ but you’ve got to see it from their side, too … But you know, ‘Let me try to execute it the way we are. Let me build the story around it and I’ll do you a solid. I’ll tell you what, I’ll shoot the ending two ways, you know, with one extra little thing, two extra little shots. I’ll let you know he’s alive, and I’m gonna leave it up to the audience to decide, and we’re gonna test both.’”

He continued, “And they were super cool. They let me go through the whole movie … The test audience has definitely had a favorite of that, which is the ending that you guys saw, and it was nice to show and get actual feedback … And everyone was very understanding of that, and it was good to come to that conclusion together without having to fight it or force it.”

While this alternate ending confirms Wick’s survival more directly, the director himself previously recalled that, whatever the tombstone might read, that might not mean the death of who we think.

When discussing the final scenes, Stahelski confirmed with ComicBook.com, “As far as the John Wick conundrum, we’ve always looked at it as duality. There’s John, there’s John Wick, so you tell me who lives, who dies?”  

John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters now.

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