'John Wick 3' Shows Keanu Reeves on the Run in First Look

The third installment of the John Wick franchise is on its way, and the anti-hero seems to be on [...]

By Michael Hein

The third installment of the John Wick franchise is on its way, and the anti-hero seems to be on the run in the latest teaser images.

John Wick: Chapter 3, — rumored to be titled John Wick 3: Parabellum — hits theaters in May. It will take the soft-spoken hitman to places he has never gone before, though it will not ignore the action of the previous film. In fact, in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Keanu Reeves said that John Wick 3 will pick up right where Chapter 2 ended.

Spoilers ahead for John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3.

"The third chapter is literally connected to 2 and starts with John Wick on the run," the actor said. "It goes crazy from there."

At the end of John Wick Chapter 2, Wick was excommunicated from the secretive world of assassins for good. With a $14 million bounty on his head and a dog at his side, he ran off into the city to hide. According to Reeves, his journey will take him all the way to the Middle East, where he will meet a new character named Sofia, played by Halle Berry.

"She has a past with John," Reeves revealed. "I end up going to find her to see if she can help me."

As the pictures show, Sofia is accompanied by two Belgian Malinois dogs, playing right into the theme of canine companions throughout the series. Chad Stahelski, who has directed both previous entries into the franchise, spoke to EW as well, musing on the symbolic significance of dogs.

"Whereas John's puppy was symbolic of his wife, Halle's two dogs are symbolic of someone she's lost," he said. They do more than create a sympathetic plot, however, as Stahelski said that there are action sequences based entirely around Sofia's "canine assistants."

"They work very well tactically," he added.

While the plot drives forward into Wick's exile, Stahelski said that it looks backwards quite a bit as well. He described John Wick 3 as "a little bit of an origin story," and said that the council referenced earlier as the High Table will play a big role.

For this, the movie has recruited Asia Kate Dillon, Mark Dacascos and Anjelica Huston, who plays "someone who was responsible for [Wick's] upbringing and his protection."

Despite being packed full of plot, Stahelski said there is more than enough action to go around in the film. He estimated that the body count will "land slightly north" of those in the previous movies. He even said that he feels some of the same nervousness that he felt when the first movie came out.

"We did the first one and were like, 'They're going to laugh at us,'" he joked. "This one, I'm already looking for janitorial jobs."

John Wick 3 hits theaters on May 17, 2019.

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