Originally published October 23, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
This February sees Keanu Reeves returning to the role of retired assassin and killing machine John Wick for a sequel to the 2014 action thriller, and director Chad Stahelski has been speaking to Collider about the approach they adopted for John Wick: Chapter 2, comparing it to that of James Cameron’s Aliens.
“We decided to stop competing with the first one,” said Stahelski. “Once we stopped worrying about ourselves it was fun. I mean is it as good as the first one? I don’t know. Did we go better in some ways? Yes. Did we experiment with the characters more? Yes. Everything there is better. Is the enjoyment better? I think the enjoyment is there, but it’s different. All the other director friends I have don’t like doing sequels or don’t like doing other people’s sequels, which is even worse I think. But then there’s other examples. I think the best example is Ridley Scott. He did the first Alien. James Cameron created Aliens. Cameron, I think think is a genius for that. Going, ‘I’m not making the same Aliens again, I’m just gonna make it.’ If I could be so bold as to take that similarity then so be it.”
SEE ALSO: Watch the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 2
It was recently revealed that Lionsgate is already eyeing a third John Wick movie, and Stahelski confirmed that they are in talks about where the next sequel could go: “The studio has asked us to put our heads together and see if we can come up with something. Winston’s [Ian McShane] is a big part of the next one, so is Lance Reddick. We’ve got some ideas. Love Lance, Lance is great, fantastic actor super great guy and we have a good cast. I keep saying that, we have a really great cast [laughs].”
Legendary hitman John Wick is forced back out of retirement by a former associate plotting to seize control of a shadowy international assassins guild. Bound by a blood oath to help him, John travels to Rome where he squares off against some of the world’s deadliest killers.
John Wick: Chapter 2 is set for release on February 10th in the US and on February 17th in the UK and reunites Reeves with the original’s co-director Chad Stahelski and returning stars Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, Bridget Monahan, Tom Sadowski, and Lance Reddick. New additions to the cast include Laurence Fishburne (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Common (Selma), Ruby Rose (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), Riccardo Scamarcio (Burnt) and Peter Stormare (Fargo).
