John Wick 4 ending explained: Does John Wick die?

If you've already seen the film, you'll know the ending leaves a lot of big questions, including what it all means for the future of the franchise.

Read on for everything you need to know, with the warning that there are major spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4 ahead.

John Wick 4 ending explained

While the film is a rather sprawling one – taking us to a host of far-flung destinations including Morocco, Osaka and Berlin – it's in Paris where the crucial final duel between John Wick and Bill Skarsgård's evil villain Marquis Vincent de Gramont takes place.

The duel had been arranged earlier in the film and the stakes could hardly be higher: only the winner can survive, while Winston will also be reinstated as the manager of the rebuilt New York Continental in the event of a win for John.

The evening before the duel, the parameters are set during a tense meeting – where the Marquis nominates blind High Table assassin Caine (Donnie Yen) to fight in his place. It is decided that the duel will take place with pistols at Sunrise at Sacré-Cœur, and if John fails to arrive on time both he and Winston will be executed.

Marquis uses this final parameter to his advantage by raising the bounty on John's head to $40 million, meaning that he has more than a few obstacles to overcome on his way to the duel as a huge number of assassins aim to complete this lucrative contract.

In the end, Caine aids John as he fights his way up the stairs to the Sacré-Cœur, and despite some hairy moments along the way they make it to the summit just in time. During the duel, John is severely injured – and in the final round the Marquis asks if he can replace Caine to deliver the final blow.

But unbeknownst to him, John has not fired his previous round, meaning that he is able to shoot the villain at close range and instantly kill him. This means John has won the duel, but his celebrations are short-lived: the wound he had earlier suffered is bad enough to prove fatal, and he peacefully dies.

The film ends at John's funeral, which is attended by Winston and The Bowery King. In the final moments, they stand over their old friend's gravestone – which is located next to his wife's and reads simply "Good husband" as John had earlier requested.

Is John Wick dead?

John has improbably defied death on numerous occasions throughout the four films, but in this instance, he really does seem to have perished. Or has he?

While all signs point to the fact that he has died – including the recent comments from director Chad Stahelski that "Keanu and I are done for the moment" and "We’re going to give John Wick a rest" – it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for there to be some kind of big revelation later down the line.

Perhaps John has merely faked his death so he can enjoy a quiet retirement without fear of being drawn back into the High Table's games yet again. Even though the bullet wound did seem to be a deathly serious one, and chances of recovery looked slight, he's come back from the brink more times than most fictional characters – so who's to say he didn't make a surprise recovery after some late medical attention off screen?

Winston star Ian McShane certainly doesn't think it's definitely the end. Speaking to RadioTimes.com for The Big RT Interview, he said: "It's sufficiently enigmatic, you can go whichever way you want. I think they wrote it specifically to leave it open to whatever is happening. And maybe there will be another one..."

We'll just have to wait and see if we get a John Wick: Chapter 5.

John Wick 4 is now showing in UK cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage, or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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