Since the events of John Wick: Chapter 4 put the Keanu Reeves-led franchise land in a particularly tight jam, there continue to be questions about where things could go next. There are certainly an infinite number of storytelling possibilities, as the four films have laid out a pretty expansive universe. Director Chad Stahelski knows this potentially more than anyone else, and he’s shown it throughout the press tour for this latest action movie masterpiece. Amid the recent uncertainty, Stahelski fed into it with some remarks about whether or not Sofia Al-Azwar, who is played brilliantly by the one and only Halle Berry, could return to the Wick universe.
As he took part in The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the stunt performer-turned-director approached the subject while talking about the actress' enthusiasm when she first signed onto the franchise. Apparently, her work on John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum was exciting enough to keep her hungry for more; as Chad Stahelski told Rogen the following:
Yeah. We have actually been in talks several times to try to — I hate the term spinoff — but they are trying to do other satellite projects off the Wick franchise. Hopefully, they'll be good ones. ... But Halle… she’s definitely still game for it.
It’s actually not that surprising that the Academy Award winner would want to return to her role as Sofia, the manager of the Casablanca location of Continental in Keanu Reeves’ third outing as Baba Yaga. Chad Stahelski actually admitted that this veteran of the James Bond movies actually had to be “slowed down” in her first weeks of training, as she was eager to get started.
John Wick Director Explains His Involvement With Ana De Armas' Ballerina Spinoff
However, despite being an eager pupil, there were some hard times during her John Wick experience. Not only did the Catwoman alum's first training session cause her to break out in hives, but there was also the issue of her breaking three ribs due to stunt work performed amid filming. So the fact that she has those stories to tell and is still excited to return to the fold speaks volumes about how much she enjoyed playing the role of Sofia.
As Chad Stahelski mentioned above, the “satellite projects” of the John Wick universe are all beginning to introduce new characters to help broaden the sandbox. Ana de Armas’ Ballerina, as well as the streaming prequel The Continental are going to be the test cases as to whether this enterprise works for the fans or not. So should success knock on Mr. Wick’s door yet again, Halle Berry just might get to return to Sofia after all.
At the time of this writing, you can catch up with Ms. Berry’s previous exploits in this franchise through Tubi, as the first three John Wick installments are streaming on that platform. Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen John Wick: Chapter 4, that adventure is now yours to rent or own on digital or physical media. Careful though, it’s a killer.
