John Wick producer Basil Iwanyk told Screenrant in an exclusive interview that he's interested in telling the Bowery King's (Laurence Fishburne) story.
If/when this happens, this expands the John Wick universe even wider. The first spinoff, the mini-series The Continental: From the World of John Wick, premiered in September 2023 on Peacock. A spinoff film, Ballerina starring Ana de Armas, will be released in June 2024.
Director Chad Stahelski recently teased an anime spinoff as well. He also mentioned plans for a High Table story, separate from The Continental. John Wick 5 is currently being written, but details are kept secret.
John Wick and the Bowery King
However, Iwanyk is more interested in delving into the Bowery King and his world.
He said, “I like the Bowery King a lot, and I like that world. We scratched the surface of who he is and who these men are and women, and why they do what they do. I think there's something really cool about these people who make conscious choices to be in the shadows. And be the people that we look through every day when we walk down the street or we go, ‘Oh, this person wants money from me?' I think that's a world that we haven't touched yet, which I think could be really cool and really edgy and rough, dark. I don't know, that is something that I've always been really intrigued with.”
He also finds the contrast between the High Table and the Bowery gripping.
“All the Bowery King group, they leave an impression on every movie that they're in. Because there's also the guys in The Continental, they're like knights or samurai, it's very formal. And the Bowery King people are crazy and fun and informal. And I think that's a great… I don't know, I have no idea what that world is, we're making this up as we go along. But man, that world intrigues me a lot,” he added.
The Bowery King and The Soup Kitchen
John Wick fans would definitely want to know more about the Bowery King and The Soup Kitchen, the underworld intelligence network he runs. The franchise will also get to capitalize on Fishburne's action star creds.
And Iwanyk is right about the fascinating contrast between the aristocratic High Table and the rag-tag bunch that is The Soup Kitchen. One of John Wick's biggest strengths is the many worlds within its universe.
As fans have seen a glimpse of the world of The Continental and the upcoming High Table series has already been planned, it's only fitting to give Fishburne and The Soup Kitchen their moment in the sun.