The world of John Wick continues and will soon come to anime form. The movie series’ longtime director, Chad Stahelski, revealed his and Lionsgate’s plans for the franchise, including an anime and a TV show, as they continued to expand the universe that Keanu Reeves' iconic character had built.
In his appearance on The Playlist's The Discourse podcast, Stahelski revealed that the John Wick anime is being developed with the help of a talent from Japan. The filmmaker admitted that he’s an avid fan of Japanese anime, so they’re now looking forward and excited about it.
“So, to create all the cool stories that anime can achieve better than we can, and the TV show to expand our world. We'll still get our fix; you know what I mean? And we'll still have all the fun,” he said.
Regarding the TV project, Stahelski added that he understands world-building and action are separate when working on the small screen compared to the movies. However, as he wants “something to happen” in his TV show, he may try to combine and give them both to fans. “So, to try and bring that to TV, what we do with features would be really exciting,” he continued.
However, instead of the titular character John Wick or Winston Scott from The Continental TV series, Stahelski mentioned that they might explore other characters introduced in John Wick: Chapter 4. "Yeah, I love Donnie, I love Rina, love the Tracker, and the TV show and the ancillaries will give us a chance to expand the kind of fun world we've created," he said.
He believed TV is a better platform to tell their stories as people can jump into the background. Compared to the movies, they don't have to spend much time setting up the first act and doing other major works.
Is there a John Wick TV series?
If Stahelski and Lionsgate’s plans push through, this won’t be the first time a John Wick TV series has been made. Just a couple of months ago, The Continental: From the World of John Wick, or simply The Continental, was released on Peacock in the US and on Amazon Prime Video internationally. It serves as a spinoff and a prequel to the franchise and follows the story of how Winston Scott became the proprietor of The Continental chain of hotels’ New York branch.
Composed of only three episodes, the miniseries received mixed reviews. Stahelski revealed that he wasn’t heavily involved in making The Continental aside from “some consulting.” Hence, he expressed excitement about doing a new TV show and a John Wick anime.
Though the idea of seeing the world of John Wick in anime form is relatively new, it will be a welcome addition to the growing franchise. Knowing anime has no limits when it comes to featuring the most intense and unrealistic fights, seeing the fan-favorite hitman going all out excites fans.
