After four films, one spin-off series and more to come, it’s hard to imagine John Wick happily driving off into the sunset with his puppy.
Marking the hit action film’s 10th anniversary, producers David Leitch and Chad Stahelski revealed that star Keanu Reeves helped them fight to kill off the titular character’s furry friend in the first installment, sparking his franchise-long fight for revenge.
“We were told, ‘It’s bad luck.’ ‘It’s bad juju,’” Leitch explained to Business Insider. “‘It’s Old Yeller, you can’t do this!’ ‘No one will want to see this on screen; you’re going to alienate the audience.’ And I’m like, ‘We’re going to execute people at close range; killing the dog is one thing, but what about the brutal massacre of all these human beings? Are they going to be able to accept that?’
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“They didn’t understand that we were making a genre movie. We are genre fans to the core, and we know those hard-boiled moments are what make memorable moments,” he added.
In John Wick, Reeves stars as the legendary assassin who has retired to marry the love of his life. But when thugs still his prized car and kill the puppy his late wife gave him, Wick sets out on a bloody quest for vengeance, which pits him against the criminal enterprise to which he once belonged.
Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4.
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
Stahelski recalled, “Dave and I were very in sync on how we were going to shoot the scene. We were going to use a baby lens; John gets hit hard in the head, so it’s going to be dream-like; the dog death happens off-camera, and all you are going to see in the aftermath is this trail of the blood making it look like the puppy tried to crawl to him.
“So on the day, Keanu was acting with a stuffed dog. Crying. He’s all beat up. He looks awful in his pajamas. Everyone behind the monitors must have thought, ‘Okay, this is the worst idea; these first-time directors are done,’” he said. “For the next couple of weeks it was suggested that we shoot an alternative ending revealing that the puppy actually isn’t dead. But Keanu stood up for us. And Basil stood up to the investors, and eventually, they just felt, ‘F— it, let’s see what these guys can do.’”
John Wick (2014) grossed more than $86 million worldwide, with the franchise crossing the $1 billion mark last year with John Wick: Chapter 4.
The franchise will continue with From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas and premiering June 6, 2025 in theaters. Meanwhile, Donnie Yen is set to reprise his role as the highly skilled, blind assassin Caine in an upcoming Lionsgate film. A prequel anime film is also in development.
In addition to last year’s Peacock prequel limited series The Continental, the sequel series John Wick: Under the High Table is in the works.
