Keanu Reeves Gets Candid About Returning for John Wick 5

Keanu Reeves has a very practical reason for sitting out the John Wick franchise going forward. The actor turned 60 years old this year, and he now says that the physical toll of the action series is too much for him. In a new interview on CBS This Morning, Reeves said that he’d love to play John Wick again, but his knees are holding him back.

“You can never say never, but my knees right now are saying, ‘You can’t do another John Wick.’ So, my heart does, but I don’t know if my knees can do it,” Reeves said. He was on the talk show with Jeff Fowler, director of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, to promote that movie’s premiere next Friday. Fowler joked that Reeves’ knees left him with no excuse to sit out upcoming Sonic movies, since he is only required for voice-over work to play Shadow the Hedgehog. He said: “You heard it here first: Keanu will be playing Shadow for the next 20 years.”

Reeves found a bit of a second wind as an action movie star when John Wick premiered in 2014, spawning a franchise that still seems to be growing. He plays a retired assassin wracked with grief who is pulled back into a fascinating world of business-like violence. Along the way, the audience learns just how legendary this unassuming hitman is. Reeves reprised that role in three more movies, the most recent – John Wick: Chapter 4 – premiering in 2023.

Last year also saw the premiere of a TV spinoff called The Continental: From the World of John Wick. It was billed as a miniseries, and so far there have been no moves to change that. However, the first spinoff movie is due out next year. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2024.

Still, the franchise may struggle to keep momentum without its titular character, and if Reeves is really finished for good, that leaves some questions about the other planned projects we’ve heard about. John Wick: Chapter 5 has been in the works since at least 2020, and it was originally intended to be shot back-to-back with Chapter 4. After the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood labor strikes, the movie seems to have undergone some major changes. Back in October, director Chad Stahelski told The Hollywood Reporter that Chapter 5 would launch a new storyline rather than following Chapter 4 directly. He also indicated that Reeves would get creative input on the story.

There are at least two other spinoff movies in development for the John Wick franchise, and one other TV series. Right now, you can stream the first three John Wick movies on fuboTV and Chapter 4 on Starz, while The Continental is streaming on Peacock. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hits theaters on Friday, December 20th.