Derek Kolstad, who has thus far written every John Wick movie, will not be writing John Wick 4 and 5. And it was not his decision to step away.
www.slashfilm.com
While director Chad Stahelski has been behind the camera of every
John Wick movie and Keanu Reeves is obviously the face of the franchise, the whole thing began with
Derek Kolstad. The screenwriter wrote the original screenplay and concocted this entire world of international assassins, cool hotels, mysterious monetary denominations, and bulletproof suits. But it sounds like Kolstad’s time with the franchise is over, because in a new interview, he has revealed that he will not be writing the scripts for the
previously announced John Wick 4 and
John Wick 5.
And if you’re dying for more info about the
John Wick spin-off TV series
The Continental, it sounds like you won’t have to wait very long before you hear some concrete information about it.
In an interview with
Collider, Kolstad was asked where he was in the writing process of
John Wick 4 and
John Wick 5, but he surprisingly responded, “I’m actually not involved in four and five.”
“At a certain stage of the studio will tell you, your creation is graduated, and you wish it well,” Kolstad explained. “I’m still close with Chad, still close with Dave, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to see.”
According to the writer, it was not his plan to step away from the franchise – that’s a call that was made by Lionsgate.
“No, it wasn’t my decision,” he said. “When you think of the [contracts] of these things, the third one I shared the credit with any number of people, they didn’t have to come back to me, and so they didn’t. And so you look at that and you could be hurt, and I would – say, if I was 20 years ago – I would have been, but seeing what the industry is and how things go, I just believe that you bless everything and hope it all the best, and to the players involved who are doing other things elsewhere. And yeah, it’s personal, so I’m never going to talk shit about
John Wick. I want this thing to survive and thrive.”