Fans are already expecting John Wick 4 to be nothing short of epic, however they now have another reason to get excited.
Donnie Yen has joined the cast for the fourth instalment to the film franchise and he will no doubt bring a hell of a lot of action.
The actor is well known from his starring role as Wing Chun grandmaster in the Ip Man series, as well as for playing Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Xiang in xXx: Return of Xander Cage and Commander Tung in the Disney live action movie Mulan.
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But to up the ante, Yen is also a martial arts master outside of acting. He is proficient in Tai Chi, Boxing, Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do, Hapkido, Taekwondo, Karate, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Wing Chun, and Wushu. Just casually.
That means John Wick 4 will be bringing some martial arts madness to their fight scenes. The film franchise is already well known for its action sequences, but Donnie will be a huge asset to the movie.
Deadline reports Yen will play an old friend of John Wick's, who 'shares his same history and many of the same enemies'. That will be sorely needed after how Keanu Reeves' character was left at the end of the third chapter.
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John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski said: "We are very lucky to have Donnie Yen join the franchise. I am looking forward to working with him in this exciting new role."
According to reports, development on John Wick 4 began shortly after the third film - John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum was released in 2019.
Speaking to Collider last April, Chad Stahelski said that the creative team had set the bar much higher.
He said: "We submitted an idea or thematic [plan] and it was really big. So, we're talking about doing a little bit more than a [John Wick 4], or something like that, and trying to develop that.
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"I'm in a happy place where we are in development...we're in a place where we know what we want do and where we want to do it."
It seems Keanu Reeves also wasn't ready to leave his character stuck in Parabellum.
Stahelski explained: "We just kinda met each other when we were doing the publicity tour and I think we were in Japan, and Keanu goes, 'I think I got one more left in me,' and we had one idea we didn't use which we really loved and we have to cut it out of number three, just didn't have the space for it.
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"So we're like, 'Okay, we'll do a fourth. That's gonna be awesome. We'll make a plan.' The studios went, 'We totally get what you're trying to do.'"
The fourth film isn't due to be released until May 27 next year after it was pushed back a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was originally due to hit our screens last month but Keanu Reeves needed to finish filming The Matrix 4 first.
Featured Image Credit: Mandarin Films/LionsgateTopics: Entertainment, TV and Film, keanu reeves, john wick