‘John Wick 4’ Adds Scott Adkins, King of Direct-to-Video Action Cinema

Well, maybe this time will turn out differently. John Wick 4 recently started production and is still adding to its line-up of heavy-hitters, and the latest news will surely bring a smile to the face of many a genre fan — and maybe just a little bit of angst, too. Deadline reports that Scott Adkins, an icon of countless direct-to-TV action films but who has yet to receive the same treatment from Hollywood blockbusters, is in negotiations to join the next installment of the John Wick series.

As a franchise so dependent on hand-to-hand combat and brain-meltingly awesome stunt work, John Wick has enjoyed a fun little tradition of adding charismatic and physically imposing performers to throw at Wick and really put the poor guy through the wringer. John Wick: Chapter 2 boasted the double-whammy of Common and Ruby Rose as formidable assassins, while none other than the gargantuan 7-foot-3 NBA center Boban Marjanovic more than held his own during a memorable, all-out library brawl in Chapter 3. With that in mind, perhaps it was only a matter of time before director Chad Stahelski and executive producer/star Keanu Reeves came knocking at Adkins’ door.

No details are known about who Adkins might be playing, but we would safely bet on an ambitious but probably doomed assassin destined to add to Wick’s ever-growing kill list.

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Give Adkins His Due Already!

Though casual fans may not know him by name, Adkins has popped up in minor roles throughout a handful of recent blockbusters, although he most recently lent his talents to IP Man 4, the Donnie Yen-starring action vehicle that Wick is most certainly indebted to (especially considering that Yen himself was yet another addition to John Wick 4). Adkins has also had roles in Triple Threat, American Assassin, and notably in Doctor Strange, in which he played a mostly-mute henchman that was deflatingly dispatched in a single scene.

But perhaps it is in John Wick that we must place our hopes. Adkins is long overdue for a major role that would be truly worthy of his cult appeal, and the neon-drenched, blood-soaked, martial arts-infused world of John Wick would certainly seem an ideal match. After all, the John Wick series itself was once a little-known, niche martial arts action/thriller that seemingly exploded into popularity overnight and has gone on to widespread success. Who says the same can’t hold true for Scott Adkins?

John Wick 4 is set for a May 27, 2022 release.

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