[29] John Wick is a retired assassin who returns to his old ways after a group of Russian gangsters steal his car and kill his puppy which was given to him by his late wife Helen.

Forced to honor a debt from his past life, John Wick is sent to assassinate a target he has no wish to kill, where he faces betrayal at the hands of his sponsor.

John Wick is declared excommunicado after killing an international crime lord on Continental grounds, where he sets out to save himself from bounty hunters and assassins.

The story, written as a spec script based on Hatten's love for the John Wick films before being purchased by Lionsgate,[45] involves a young woman who is raised to be an assassin who seeks revenge on the hitmen who killed her family.

[47][48] In May 2020, Stahelski stated that Wiseman had read the script earlier, and approached the studio with a pitch of how he would develop the project, based on Hatten's draft, for which the proof of concept had previously been uploaded to YouTube in September 2017.

[56] Reprising roles were announced for Ian McShane and Keanu Reeves as Winston Scott and John Wick, respectively, followed by Anjelica Huston as The Director and Lance Reddick as Charon.

[65] Later that same month, following the financial and critical success of Chapter 4, producer Erica Lee stated she was hopeful for a fifth film among projects expanding the universe currently in development.

The actors stated there are discussions for such a reprisal, serving as a continuation of Chapter 4's post-credits scene, depicting Akira seeking revenge by hunting Caine.

"[66] Stahelski has expressed interest in seeing additional actors join the franchise, such as: Cillian Murphy, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Bob Odenkirk, Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Clint Eastwood, Jason Momoa, Matt Damon, Chris Hemsworth, Colin Farrell, Charlize Theron, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Jurnee Smollett, Robert Downey Jr., Sean Bean, Jeff Wincott, Jeff Speakman, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jamie Foxx and Brad Pitt.

[76][77][63] Stahelski, Leitch, and Lee additionally expressed interest in having John Leguizamo, David Patrick Kelly, Thomas Sadoski, Common, and Willem Dafoe reprise their supporting roles in the future.

[79] In November 2023, Stahelski confirmed that multiple projects were in development, while acknowledging that there are plans to explore the various criminal organization establishments within the continuity; including Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, Middle-Eastern, Indonesian, and Russian cultures.

[67] In June 2017, Chad Stahelski and Derek Kolstad were announced to be developing a television series for Lionsgate based on the characters and setting of the John Wick films, tentatively titled The Continental.

He announced that the project's plot had been difficult to develop, with the studio having taken various pitches from different creative teams, before the creators of Wayne presented the concept that they settled upon: three 90-minute episodes, making The Continental a limited series.

[95][96] In November 2021, Ayomide Adegun, Peter Greene, and Jeremy Bobb joined the cast as a young Charon, a younger Uncle Charlie, and a new character named Mayhew, respectively.

[99] In March 2023, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Joe Drake stated that the series is expected to release later in the year, also saying that the episodes are "nearly finished".

[104][105] In August 2024, the series was officially greenlit with the title John Wick: Under the High Table, and will be shopped around to various streaming companies; with Robert Levine serving as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.

The show will be overseen collaboratively by Chad Stahelski, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, and Keanu Reeves; each of who serve as additional executive producers.

The plot of the series will take place chronologically after the events of Chapter 4 and will follow new characters who strive to usurp the High Table, while returning cast members of the franchise seek to maintain the current order.

Every assassin in the world sticks to a strict code for conducting "business", revolving around the Continental hotel chain, which serves as neutral ground for the underworld, where all "business" is strictly forbidden on all its properties,[109] with each manager—including Winston Scott (Ian McShane), Sofia Al-Azwar (Halle Berry), Julius (Franco Nero), and Shimazu Koji (Hiroyuki Sanada)—swearing their fealty to the High Table, a council of twelve high-level leaders of world society, while paying for services within the underworld with specialized gold coins,[110] used as both fiscal currency to acquire goods and services and ethical currency for honor-bound favors[111]—a specific variety of which, a "marker", binds one's soul to an unbreakable blood oath between two individuals in exchange for a specific task undertaken by each party for the other, for which one serves as the "bearer" until the day on which they intend to claim the favor owed.

The premise for John Wick was conceived by screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who began work on a treatment about a retired contract killer coming out to seek vengeance, entitled Scorn.

[120] When Basil Iwanyk, head of Thunder Road Pictures, had first read Kolstad's original screenplay, he was immediately drawn to the main character of Wick, stating: "The tone of the script was subversive and really fun".

After Iwanyk and Peter Lawson of Thunder Road showed him the script, he thought it to be full of potential and stated: "I love the role but you want the whole story, the whole ensemble to come to life".

During story discussions for John Wick, Reeves contacted Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, whom he originally met on the set of The Matrix,[124] to see if they were interested in choreographing or directing the action of the piece.

[125] Reeves admired Stahelski and Leitch's work performing, choreographing and coordinating, stating that, "when I got the script...I immediately thought of Chad and Dave for the action design, but I was secretly hoping they'd want to direct it".

[125] After reading Kolstad's script, Stahelski and Leitch told Reeves they wanted to tell the story of John Wick, as they both had a desire to get involved with a project as directors.

Impressed with Reeves' enthusiasm and the quality of the script, Stahelski and Leitch told him that they wished to direct the film and later presented him with their version of the story which was based on "[...] the idea of [Wick] as an urban legend, a thriller assassin movie with a realistic vibe and an otherworldly setting".

"[144] Outside of films, Stahelski and Leitch drew inspiration from the visual stylings of the '60s and '70s as well as cinematic influences, including Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, William Friedkin and Sam Peckinpah.

Set in-between the first and second films, the game follows John Wick being hunted by a survivor of his "impossible task", featuring Ian McShane and Lance Reddick reprising their respective roles as Winston and Charon.

The game has the player control Wick in various missions to use his array of skills to take down opponents and features the voices of Ian McShane and Lance Reddick reprising their film roles, among others.

[184] On May 23, 2021, the 32nd season finale of The Simpsons, titled "The Last Barfighter", aired on Fox as a parody of John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, featuring Ian McShane guest starring as Artemis Scott, Winston's twin brother and the manager of "The Confidential" hotel, part of a secret society of bartenders of which members include Moe Szyslak and Dr. Julius Hibbert.