Summary:
- John Wick Samurai Western movie definitely sounds like a treat for action fans.
- The movie will explore John Wick’s side that fans haven’t seen before.
- Here’s everything you need to know about the John Wick Samurai Western movie.
The John Wick Universe kick-started with the first John Wick movie released in 2014. Since then, four movies and one TV series have been set in the John Wick universe. While John Wick’s story ended in John Wick: Chapter 4, the franchise continues to expand, with a brand-new John Wick Samurai Western movie just announced. Here’s what you need to know.
A New John Wick Samurai Western Movie Already Has a Finished Script
Variety recently put out Austin Everett’s name in Screenwriters to Watch for 2025, stating that the writer has already written the script for the Samurai Western set in the John Wick universe. Everett didn’t reveal much, stating, “That’s probably as much as I can say.”
Austin Osanai Everett is a fairly new writer-director. He has previously penned the script for Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out and Secondhand Hearts, the latter of which he even directed. Everett has also directed and written three other short films. Needless to say, none of the films were as big as something in the John Wick universe.
What Exactly is a Samurai Western Movie
In Japanese, Samurai films are called Chanbara, which literally translates to sword-fighting movies. Samurai movies came before Western movies and directly inspired the latter. Akira Kurosawa’s movies are the perfect examples of this. Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Seven Samurai were Samurai Westerns that inspired the American Spaghetti Westerns.
Westerns usually included movies like Good, Bad, and the Ugly with morally ambiguous antiheroes as the protagonists and stylized violence, something similar to John Wick movies. Some notable examples of Samurai Westerns are Sanjuro, Yojimbo, and The Magnificent Seven (Remake of Seven Samurai).
Where Will Samurai Western Take Place in the John Wick Timeline
News of a Samurai Western movie set in the John Wick universe was first revealed in 2023 by Chad Stahelski. However, at that time, the project was planned as a TV series. In October 2024, Stahelski revealed that the project had become a full-blown movie.
“We thought these ideas would be best told through [animation] – Stahelski
The film would explore a different part of John Wick’s history and focus on the impossible task that freed the hero from the High Table. Since Stahelski has revealed that the movie will explore a different history of John Wick, this could serve as a prequel to the John Wick movies and perhaps the first ever movie chronologically in the John Wick timeline.
