The hugely popular John Wick series began because someone killed the wrong man's dog. Since that fateful event, the franchise has grown and grown to become one of the best-received action franchises in decades. Full of incredible set pieces, breathtaking gunplay, and bone-breaking martial arts, a recent fan theory posits that there is much more to the John Wick movies than you might suspect.

Shared to Reddit by u/coces, the trending theory suggests that the John Wick franchise will last for five movies, with each installment representing one of the stages of grief, the stages being denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance.

"Im not sure if this is something thats been discussed anywhere else but I was re-watching the series and noticed how often the characters reference grief, loss and death & when watching all movies back to back the plots surround each of the stages of grief."

The user then goes on to break down each movie individually, and how they portray each stage.

"Denial - JW: John's living by himself with his wife's things left around the house and in the bathroom, untouched as if she'll come back to use them -trying to live normally and act like nothings wrong but we see him in anguish driving recklessly in his car."

John Wick: Chapter 2 is, of course, anger, and with the sheer level of destruction and veangeance carried out by Mr. Wick it is impossible to deny that this stage fits perfectly.

"Anger - Chapter 2: His killing spree from the first movie entices Santiago to pull him out of retirement, use and betray John. His anger gets the better of him and he kills on Continental grounds."

This then makes John Wick: Parabellum the representation of bargaining.

"Bargaining - Parabellum: Begging his connections for help; the doctor for meds, the director for a ticket, forcing Sofia's marker, guidance from Berrada. Walking through the desert to find the high table and ask them for another chance to live."

The theory then goes even further, pitching the last two movies and how they will be themed around the last two stages, depression and acceptance.

"Depression - The fourth movie would probably exist around the depressive stage of grief where John is forced to stay in the life but never getting that "chance to deserve the memory of love" he has a choice of killing Winston or getting revenge with Bowery. He'd become an empty shell, slower and sloppy (as was mentioned a lot in Parabellum).

Acceptance - Whatever the choices may be, the final stage of grief could be John finally coming to terms with who he is/was and continuing as an assassin, dying, or taking his dog & car to go home for good."

It really is quite a beautiful theory, adding another level to these masterful action movies. We shall see whether the theory tracks or completely falls apart when Jonh Wick 4 hits theaters on 21 May 2021. This comes to us from u/coces Reddit account.