John Wick was originally a 75-year-old man before Keanu Reeves came on board

Keanu Reeves in John Wick 3 — (Image credit: Lionsgate)

John Wick could have been a much different (and older) franchise as a new book reveals that the titular assassin was originally meant to be 75 years old.

"One of my best friends is Charlie Ferraro at UTA, who sent me this script from Derek Kolstad called Scorn," franchise producer Basil Iwanyk writes in his book, They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Ass-Kicking Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action (via Entertainment Weekly).

"The lead was a 75-year-old man, 25 years after being retired. It was the fun of watching Clint Eastwood kick ass. I thought, 'Okay, there’s probably one or two names you could do this with: Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford.'"

Of course, the role ultimately went to Keanu Reeves, who was 50 when the first movie was released in 2014. In the book, Iwanyk continues: "My other best friend in the world, this guy Jimmy Darmody, is an agent at CAA, who at the time represented Keanu. And he said, 'Do you have any action movies for Keanu Reeves?'

"I remember thinking to myself, 'Keanu is one of the great action stars of the last 25 years – what happened to him? What’s he been doing?' And he was directing his movie, Man of Tai Chi, and doing 47 Ronin. We give him the script, we tell him, 'Clearly, you’re not 75.'"

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.