John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski explains exactly why he opted to scrap the movie’s “Hollywood-esque” alternate ending.

According to John Wick: Chapter 4 director Chad Stahelski, both he and test audiences didn’t enjoy the movie’s tropey alternate ending.

Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, the filmmaker explained why he wanted to create two different versions of the final scene and what prompted him to use the one that made it into the theatrical cut.

When asked if he ever filmed an ending that saw John Wick standing over his own grave, Stahelski confirmed that while that specific moment never transpired, the creative team did something very similar. “We did that, and people around us asked, ‘Well, what happens if you did see it?’

and you’re like, ‘fair enough,'” the director explained. “I had a little time. We’ll shoot this, and it’s just a shot revealing John and stuff, and my only caveat was like, hey, can we test them both? I wanna see, and I was curious too.”

The test proved to be a good call on Stahelski’s part as he claims the audience that watched the alternate ending were passionately against it. “We tested it, and we got such a violent reaction from the audience.

It was like we weren’t even on like the credits hadn’t even finished rolling, and everybody’s just like it felt very Hollywood-esque,” he concluded. John Wick: Chapter 4 stunned audiences when it concluded with an implication that the titular assassin had finally met his end, killed in a duel with his old friend Caine.

John Wick’s End

Despite the seemingly final nature of the fourth movie, Lionsgate has confirmed plans to develop a fifth movie in the franchise.

For his part, Stahelski has previously stated that for the moment both he and star Keanu Reeves are done with John Wick due to the demanding nature of the action movies

. The filmmaker has also insisted that he doesn’t “have a take” on what another film would look like but it could ultimately change his mind on a whim.

“I could wake up tomorrow and have a cool idea that I’d pitch to Keanu [Reeves], or he would pitch to me, and it might hit that chord of, ‘Oh my God, we got to do this right now,'” Stahelski said.

The first three John Wick movies are available to stream on Peacock. Chapter 4 can be found on Starz.