A producer behind John Wick: Chapter 3 explained why exactly Ian McShane's Winston shot Keanu Reeves' titular anti-hero at the end of the third film.
Winston and John Wick have always been close friends and acquaintances throughout the movies. While Wick has a long history as an assassin, Winston is in charge of The Continental in New York City (which got a prequel spinoff on Peacock)––one of the most famous headquarters for their secretive underground society.
The bond between the two characters, which goes back decades, seemed unbreakable.
That was up until Winston betrayed John Wick at the end of Chapter 3 by shooting him off a rooftop so as not to move against the High Table (the head honchos in the world of assassins) himself.
Why Did Winston Shoot John Wick at the End of Chapter 3?
"Winston Is Always Planning..."
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim while promoting the ten-year-anniversary of John Wick, producer Basil Iwanyk commented on what exactly was going through Winston's head when he shot John Wick in Chapter 3:
Basil Iwanyk: So you gotta understand... The one thing we said in the first movie is that every person in the 'John Wick' movies is a bad guy or villain. That there's no purity anywhere except for Helen, that everybody is cursed and stained and has done horrible things.
There's a line I'm going to butcher, but it was like a mantra that I had for this movie when I when we first bought it, it's just, I'm paraphrasing, but it was Paul Newman. And there's a toast in 'Road to Perdition,' the whole crime family is in this huge room. And he goes, 'I don't know anything for sure, but I know one thing: nobody in this room will ever see heaven.' And I remember going, these are cursed men.
And then the other thing you gotta understand is Winston. Everything's transactional right now, by the by John with four you, you start realizing there's a crack in there that he actually looks at John as like surrogate son. And so for Winston, there's never really one reason why he makes a move. In other words, he'll make a move, and he'll leave just enough openings to be able to repackage the move.
And so I truly believe when he shoots him, and this is not a cop-out, I think there was one part of him that said, Okay, this is going to get me good with the High Table, and I'm going to be okay, and we'll live happily ever after. And then I think there's another part of him that said, Okay, I'm going to do this in a way where John could live because I may need him in the future.
And because if he really wanted to kill John Wick... You don't shoot a guy once and stumble and then he falls off. You shoot him like five times. In it, you literally chop, as Keanu would always suggest when we were making these movies, he's like, I want my head chopped off. Like, it would be something barbaric.
And so I think, yes, he did shoot him. And I think that if he died, I think Winston would be prepared for that, but I don't think he was also that upset that he lived. He was playing the angles, playing. And Winston is always planning. There's always what you think his agenda is, and the agenda underneath and the agenda underneath there.
All the John Wick movies can be purchased digitally, and the next installment in the franchise, Ballerina, will be released in theaters on June 6, 2025.
John Wick: Chapter 5 is in development, but no plot details or release window is known.
