One of the few tidbits about John Wick: Chapter 5 that has been revealed is that the main antagonist of the previous four films, the High Table, isn’t going to return. While they were a great villainous organization, the franchise needs to move forward with a new threat.

There are plenty of theories as to who the main villain of John Wick 5 will be, but, based on how the filmmakers have been talking about the movie, it is going to be an entirely new antagonist. Going in that direction will allow the series to come up with new concepts and character arcs, without becoming repeтιтive.

However, this new era for the John Wick franchise can’t ignore all the lore and characters that were set up previously, so many elements from the previous films will likely carry over. With that in mind, the High Table could definitely still return, just as a smaller part of the movie, and not as the central antagonists.

John Being Forced To Work With The High Table Would Be A Great Story For John Wick 5

While the new threat should be the central focus of John Wick 5, seeing John forced to work with the High Table would be very fun. They spent most of the franchise as bitter enemies, but now, John’s debt has been squared, and if he was desperate, he would probably find a reason to work with them again.

While reintroducing the Table at all might seem like too much, they were a very interesting organization that didn’t get explored in-depth at all. They worked mostly through proxies and intermediaries, with few of their important members really appearing. While that worked for the previous films, it means there is still a lot of mystery to dig into surrounding them.

The question then would be why John would agree to work with them, after everything he has done in the series so far to escape his life as an ᴀssᴀssin. While bringing him back at all for John Wick 5 speaks to the tragedy of his character as a whole, forcing him to work directly with the High Table would add insult to injury.

Whoever ends up being the villain of John Wick 5 will need to be someone who can pose a serious threat to John, even after he bested the High Table, so they will naturally be extremely dangerous. Someone like that would surely attract the attention of the High Table, potentially leading to this sort of alliance.

Introducing this element would also reinforce the idea that this is a new era for the franchise, as old grudges and conflicts are pushed to the side to make way for new alliances. While John Wick 5 will probably take things back to the basics in some respects, ensuring that the story feels worthy of the John Wick name will require some pretty high stakes.

Despite the fact that John won during the ending of John Wick 4, the High Table is still, at least as far as we know, the ultimate power in the ᴀssᴀssin universe. Any major events occurring in the world will still likely be under the Table’s influence, meaning that they will undoubtedly have some sway in the story.

Chad Stahelski’s Comments Make John Wick’s High Table Team-Up Unlikely

With all that being said, this kind of team-up is still pretty unlikely, even considering how interesting it would be to see. Chad Stahelski, director of the previous John Wick movies, said specifically that John Wick 5 isn’t a continuation with the High Table, so the implication is that they won’t be involved in any capacity.

While Stahelski could just be playing his cards close to his chest, he probably simply wants to create a brand-new story without relying on bringing the High Table back. If John Wick 5 is going to lead into a new saga for the franchise, it would make sense to start with a fresh slate.

Scaling the series back does make sense, even if forcing the two main adversaries of the previous four films to work together would be an excellent source of drama and intrigue. The new film will need to justify its existence after John Wick 4‘s excellent ending, and relying too much on past material could take away from that.

However, if the High Table doesn’t end up returning at all in John Wick 5, then they could very well appear in further movies, later down the line. If Stahelski does want to bring the series back to basics, reintroducing the High Table later down the line would be a good way of building the stakes back up once again.

Whatever ends up happening with the next film, the High Table remains a very important part of the universe, and it would be a shame to completely abandon the concept. While their time as a large, overarching threat to John is definitely over, there is still a lot that John Wick: Chapter 5, as well as future movies in the series, can do with them.