Bill Skarsgård Was Originally Offered A Different Role In John Wick: Chapter 4
I remember when the initial release of "John Wick" had folks curious about Keanu Reeves going into action mode to avenge the death of his adorable beagle. Nearly a decade later, however, the "John Wick" franchise has become a world with a rich mythology that goes beyond canine killers, and upcoming spin-offs like "Ballerina" and "The Continental" will open this universe up even further. One of the most interesting things about the "Wick" movies, however, is that there are no Hans Gruber-like masterminds behind the plots against Reeves' character, but rather antagonists who are pulling strings from a safe distance.
Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Asia Kate Dillion have all played adversaries to Wick himself, but they're beholden to upholding the larger picture that is the High Table, an organization that's been around longer than most world institutions. In "John Wick: Chapter 4," it appears we have another powerful player called the Marquis, played by Bill Skarsgård ("Barbarian"), who will give Wick a hard time.
In the 2023 Preview issue of Total Film, director Chad Stahelski talked about how he initially got in touch with Skarsgård for a different role, only for him to drum up interest in playing the Marquis:
"I was actually contacting Bill for a different part. After he read the script, he came back and went, 'I want to play the Marquis.' And I was like, 'Really?' He's like, 'Oh, yeah, that's where all the fun is!'"
The Marquis is ready to shake things up
What we know so far about the Marquis' involvement in "Chapter 4" is very little, but the trailer indicates that in order for Wick to rid himself of the burden brought on by his Excommunicado status, he needs to face off against him, for better or worse. Each new "John Wick" film posits the question of how much longer the revered assassin can keep this going, and the fact that "Chapter 4" is thrusting him into an old-fashioned duel is one of many reasons why this franchise rules.
Stahelski previously mentioned to Collider that the Marquis is emerging from the shadows after witnessing Wick's rampages. "I wouldn't really say [he's] the antagonist, but he's the one in charge of cleaning up all the messes from the first three movies," said Stahelski. On top of that, Skarsgård's presence will also be shaking things up in terms of where his enigmatic new character lies on the "John Wick" food chain.
Based on these clues, I imagine the Marquis is the middle manager between the Adjudicator (Dillon) and the Elder (Saïd Taghmaoui), both of whom were the primary antagonists in "Parabellum." We've seen the head of the High Table in addition to the organization's dispatched agents, but little of the actual members themselves. But if Skarsgård is indeed playing someone at the Table, then there's the matter of what makes him so special among the rest.
We'll have to wait, sadly, until "John Wick: Chapter 4" hits theaters on March 24, 2023, to find out.