This was the year we were supposed to get a vengeful John Wick go after the leaders of the High Table, with a little help from his friends, in John Wick: Chapter 4. It was not to be as the film was postponed one year and with filming set to begin soon, casting news has been flowing. And despite all the new additions, beloved actor, Laurence Fishburne, announced he will be back in the fourth movie as the Bowery King.
While no one expected the action movie, released in 2014, to turn into a franchise or even be a success. The Keanu Reeves starrer project has become a worldwide phenomenon that has resurrecting Keanu’s career in process and the revenge action flick morphed into a multi-movie franchise. With two sequels already released and box office receipt crossing the half a billion-dollar threshold, fourth film in the series is expected to do even better next year.
To this point we only had confirmation of Keanu Reeves reprising his role as John Wick while most of the casting news was dominated by new faces. Laurence Fishburne is first of the returning cast members to be announced for the fourth movie. The actor played the Bowery King in the second and third Wick movies and his familiar character will be back, working from a “really cool” script.
Laurence Fishburne is Back as The Bowery King in John Wick: Chapter 4
Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne first worked together in the action movie classic The Matrix. After appearing in all three Matrix movies, the pair reunited for the first time in over a decade when Laurence appeared as the Bowery King in the second John Wick movie. After a day of killing and being chased around the town, John comes for help to the bowery.
The Bowery King is a crime lord who was once on the wrong side of Mr. Wick‘s gun, but he was spared. As an old man he took control of the New York underground, with homeless people working under him as assassins. Everything is sanctioned by the High Table, obviously, but the Bowery King has his own ideas to one day be the king of the whole city.
In the second Wick movie the Bowery King decides not to act on the $7 million bounty on Wick‘s head. He lets him go and instead gives him a gun with 7 bullets to go after Santino D’Antonio. John goes on a rampage and his actions for the day results in the High Table sending an Adjudicator to the city in the third movie.
The Adjudicator warns that the Bowery King‘s action will have consequences, something she acts upon by bringing her ninja assassin and killing most of the people while giving the Bowery King 7 cuts to atone for his mistakes. By the end of the third movie, we see Laurence Fishburne’s character still alive and sitting in front of an injured John Wick, asking him if he was pissed off.
Also Read: Donnie Yen Joins John Wick: Chapter 4 – Filming Begins Soon!
Ending on such a note meant the actor and the character were bound to make an appearance in the highly anticipated John Wick: Chapter 4. But the news was only confirmed recent and the actor is to fly all the way to Berlin just to film his scenes. While talking about the fourth installment, Laurence heaped praises for the script.
He told Collider, “I read the script. It’s really, really cool. As much as it’s the same world as the other three films, it’s just deeper. It’s much deeper in terms of the code of the assassin and the relationship that he has with one character in particular who I think Mr. Watanabe is playing… is really the heart and soul of it.”
There is an interesting thing about that quote, the actor said Mr. Wantanabe and by that you would probably thing Ken Wantanabe is appearing in the movie. It may not be the case and seems to be just a coincidental character name. It would be however be interesting to see Ken Wantanabe in the movie, we would love that a lot.
John Wick: Chapter 4 will arrive in theaters on 27 May 2022, if everything goes smoothly.
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Bowery King John Wick John Wick: Chapter 4 Keanu Reeves Laurence Fishburne
Last modified: June 11, 2021
