John Wick: Chapter 4 recast a very important character but offered an in-universe explanation for it, secretly setting up John Wick 5’s villain.
WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for John Wick: Chapter 4
John Wick: Chapter 4’s Elder twist means that John Wick 5 can finally deliver on the franchise’s failed villain promise. John Wick 4 recast the Elder after the head of the High Table made his debut in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, except that it was not a simple recast but rather a change that was incorporated into the story. George Georgiou played a different version of the Elder in John Wick 4 from the one Saïd Taghmaoui played in John Wick 3, establishing that the Elder was never a name but instead a title.
Whether John Wick 5 will happen is difficult to say, but there are more than enough storylines for a possible fifth entry to dive into. Even though John Wick dies in Chapter 4, the John Wick universe’s hyperrealism could make a surprising Keanu Reeves’ John Wick return work under the right circumstances, a scenario that has become more likely after John Wick 4’s box office performance. Still, for John Wick 5 to really work, it would have to have even bigger stakes than Chapter 4.
John Wick 4 Wasted 6 Years Of The Elder’s Overarching Villain Setup
Although the first John Wick teased a large, complex underworld of assassins that set its story apart from similar action-packed revenge movies, it was only in John Wick: Chapter 2 that the specifics of how the Continental worked were revealed. The characters audiences met in John Wick were just a small part of a much larger system, the High Table, which was behind all the rules John had to follow. While the Elder was not directly mentioned in John Wick 2, the existence of a High Table with several seats meant that there was also a head of the Table, the leader of it all.
John Wick 2 was the first entry in the John Wick franchise to actually pair John against the High Table, first because John had to kill one of their members and then because Keanu Reeves’ character broke the rules of a Continental hotel. As such, John Wick 3 had the perfect setup for John to face the High Table itself in the form of its leader, the Elder, which did not happen. Instead, the Elder was a plot device in Parabellum, someone for John Wick to search for during a significant part of the movie, only for him to assign Wick a new mission.
Now, John Wick 4 killed off the new Elder right at the beginning of the film. Once again used as a plot device, the Elder confirmed that there was no way out for John other than death and revealed to the audiences that “Elder” was a title that had now passed onto him after the previous one died. In addition, the Elder’s death in John Wick: Chapter 4 served to set the movie’s plot in motion, as the news that John Wick was not really dead started to spread. Instead of the actual head of the Table, Marquis de Grammont served as Chapter 4’s main villain.
How The Elder Can Return As John Wick 5’s Main Villain
By giving an in-universe explanation as to why the Elder was played by a different actor in Chapter 4, the latest entry in the John Wick franchise changed the Elder’s role in this universe. It also made the head of the Table’s return in John Wick 5 much easier. Just like the former Elder died and was replaced by the one in John Wick 4, a new head of the Table can rise ahead of John Wick 5. The High Table needs a new leader now that both the current Elder and the Marquis de Grammont are dead, and it can be assumed that a new Elder will be chosen quickly.
Considering that neither of the Elders who appeared in John Wick had a significant role in the story other than being a plot device, it would be interesting if John Wick 5 revealed that the Elder is just a symbolic role that serves as a cover-up for the real head of the Table. It is just not too feasible to believe that the most important person on the high Table would be so easy to track down, to the point two Elders were killed between Parabellum and Chapter 4. Should that be the case, John Wick 4’s Elder recast gets another layer and becomes even more interesting.
Why The Elder Must Be The John Wick Franchise’s Final Villain
From John Wick: Chapter 2 to John Wick: Chapter 4, the High Table has served as the franchise’s main antagonist. John Wick 4 was about John earning his freedom from the High Table, which the character only achieved after his death. From that perspective, John Wick 4’s ending was perfect, and it gave John Wick’s story a much-needed conclusion. However, if John Wick 5 is to happen, the only logical storyline would be to have John destroy the High Table once and for all – not just the head of the Table but the entire system.
John Wick was absolved from his crimes against the Table by the end of John Wick: Chapter 4, meaning that, in theory, there should be no reason for the Table to come after him in case John returns in John Wick 5. Still, there must surely be forces within the High Table that would not be happy letting the man who killed both an Elder and the Marquis de Grammont walk away freely. In addition, characters like John and Caine could conclude that the High Table is a prison for a lot of those involved with it, placing them in a final quest against both the Elder and the system itself.
