John Wick: Chapter 2 – NYCC 2016 [PANEL]

Keanu Reeves put the suit back on when he walked into Madison Square Garden at New York Comic Con to the delight of ravenous fans craving more of his hitman character. The stage lineup for the John Wick: Chapter 2 panel had no shortage of badasses on stage that’s for sure. Reeves was also joined by previous Wick co-star Ian McShane (could Ian be any cooler?) and new co-star Common! Director Chad Stahelski, screenwriter Derek Kolstad, and producer Basil Iwanyk were on deck to round out this very creative and talented team of individuals. While there wasn’t a dog on stage (sorry), there was plenty of sights of sounds to drive fans crazy, like the first official teaser trailer (which “rocks” as Keanu says). A surprise Matrix reunion during the trailer was a very, very big surprise without a doubt!

click on any of the images below for a larger, hi-res version

 

Highlights from the panel include:

Let’s talk about you putting on this phenomenal suit once more and getting back in this role. We’re so excited you did!

Thank you very much. You know….you don’t know how nice it is to hear that. [crowd goes crazy] No really, you know we made the first film we thought it was cool. But we were trying to do something new and fresh. Coming back, we’ve got the opportunity because of you, to be able to tell the next chapter. For me it’s really exciting to be here with you, and to be with Chad the director and to get a chance to work with Common and Ian McShane. I really liked putting the suit back on….and getting to do what John Wick gets to do. — Keanu Reeves

I get so excited when I see you action movies. Tell us about coming into the franchise.

First of all I was super excited to be able to be a part of this John Wick movement, because when I saw the first I was like “wow…this is some real cool shit right here”. It just took me to a world. Everything I love about movies was in John Wick. My character is not necessary a villain, but we are….we have some disagreements. — Common

Thank you so much for helping a brother out in the last film. You really had John Wick’s back.

Well I think Winston, I mean he’s got a shady past but, but John Wick is his favorite. There’s a little biased going on there. Winston’s got a special affinity for John. — Ian McShane

Derek, can you talk about what has brought John Wick officially out of retirement?

When we did the first one, what we loved was alluding to scenes you never see and alluding to characters in a world that are popping out of it. John Wick: Chapter 2 takes place arguably a week after the first one. All the things we love about that is that for all the different treatments and screenplays that we did, the one thing we were holding onto was the fact that there’s an item called a “The Marker” which is regulated by The Continental. It’s kind of a blood oath, meaning John Wick gave someone the ultimate request so that he could get out of the life. Because he’s resurfaced, they have resurfaced to actually cash it in. But John Wick has changed. — Derek Kolstad

 Chad, can you talk about the assassins that have joined this movie and can you talk about “The Matrix Reunion”?

Sure. One of the things we really loved about the first John Wick is the world of assassins. We tried to round out the cast with more iconic assassins. That’s where we get Common and Ruby Rose, which leads us to one of John Wick’s pseudo-allies in the movie….Laurence Fishburne. As you well may know Keanu, myself and Laurence all worked together on The Matrix Trilogy. When Derek [Kolstad] had written the character that Laurence plays in the script, it was really written with Laurence in mind. We’re like “you simply need to come do this” and we met Laurence in New York and he loved it. — Chad Stahelski

 

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 hits theaters February, 10th 2017