On March 17, 2023, Lance Reddick passed away unexpectedly at the age of 60. The actor from series like The Wire and Fringe also played a popular character in the John Wick films. Now co-star Keanu Reeves made it clear in retrospect how important Lance Reddick and his character Charon were for the action films – by quoting from a private letter.
Keanu Reeves credits Lance Reddick for his love of John Wick
John Wick: Chapter 4, the fourth film in the action series, was released last year in which Keanu Reeves, the eponymous contract killer, is simply unable to relax in retirement and therefore hunts down dog murderers, gangsters and ever-larger secret organizations. The permanent cast in the films also included Lance Reddick, who not only played the concierge of the New York Hotel The Continental with Charon, but also a good friend of John Wick.
The Matrix star now summed up how important the late actor and his character were for John Wick, but also for Keanu Reeves, to People:
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John Wick colleagues: Lance Reddick and Keanu Reeves
He had such a passion and fire for creativity, for his craft and for his art. I was able to work with him on four films over eight years and we got to know each other better during that time. […] He had such grace and was funny in his humor. I think my favorite memory is the scenes I had with him and the relationship that Charon and John Wick had. I once too
[Lance Reddick] said…well, actually I wrote him a letter saying this:’People love John Wick because Charon loves John Wick.’
After the death of Lance Reddick, the action franchise John Wick: Chapter 5 will unfortunately have to continue without him. Already the prequel series The Continental Amazon Prime * but showed that a (younger) Charon could not be missing there either.
So Keanu Reeves is probably right when he says that Reddick laid the essential foundation for the dog-loving assassin John Wick not just as a fighting machine, but also as people to see.
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