Keanu Reeves has revealed John Wick’s surprising hobby that fans don’t know about. Released in 2014, the original John Wick first introduced audiences to Reeves’ titular cold-blooded assassin, nicknamed Baba Yaga because of his almost supernatural presence. The character returned for 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2, which expanded the lore surrounding John Wick and the mysterious world of assassins, centered on the Continental Hotel and the all-powerful High Table.

The upcoming John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum will pick up where Chapter 2 left off, with John Wick on the run with a massive bounty on his head after defying the assassins’ code. The film features the returns of several key characters from prior movies, including Ian McShane’s Winston, while introducing new characters like Halle Berry’s Sophia. Early reactions to John Wick 3 suggest director Chad Stahelski and star Reeves have once again delivered an exciting action film filled with the kinds of interesting characters and intricately choreographed fight scenes that have become signatures of the series.

After three movies, fans may think they know everything there is to know about John Wick, but Reeves recently revealed a detail about the character that audiences weren’t aware of. In an interview with Uproxx, Reeves talked about the interesting hobby writers devised for Wick in the original movie, but explained that the detail was eventually cut out of the film. Reeves said:

Of course, in the original John Wick, the character had retired from being an assassin and just wanted to live a quiet life, but was forced to return to his violent ways after seeing his beloved dog murdered. The film actually didn’t go into a lot of depth about Wick’s backstory, a choice that only served to make the character more mysterious. But now it seems writers did have a deeper backstory devised for Wick before electing not to go into too much detail, instead winding Wick up and setting him loose.

In the first script they had John Wick described as working with old leather-bound books and book restoration. Yeah, we filmed it. It’s not in the movie, but we filmed it. Yeah, he had a hobby and a vocation. That’s what he did. Best case, yes, his wife had passed, and that’s what he had decided to do once he got out after the impossible task, that was his vocation.

The fact that John Wick did have an entire life planned out for himself after leaving the world of assassins, a life that would have included the restoration of books, only makes his return to violence that much more tragic. Given the meticulous nature of Wick’s killing style, the fact that he restored books in his free time actually makes a lot of sense, and the detail only serves to deepen the character more. Of course, it’s no surprise that the detail was cut from the original film, as the movie didn’t have a lot of time to delve into character. Fans are hoping John Wick will come through the action in Parabellum unscathed and get back to doing what he really loved: hanging out with his dog and, apparently, restoring old books.

More: How Keanu Reeves Would End The John Wick Franchise

Source: Uproxx

  • John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum Release Date: 2019-05-17