According to The Hollywood Reporter, Common has signed on to play the “chief villain” in John Wick 2, the sequel to last year’s Keanu Reeves action movie about a retired assassin who goes on a vengeance-fueled rampage when Alfie Allen steals his car and kills his dog. We don’t know what Common’s specific role will be, but apparently he’ll be “a head of security for a female crime lord,” which makes it sound like the female crime lord should be the chief villain, but whatever. Whoever he is, he’ll probably just get brutally murdered by John Wick at some point anyway.
In other John Wick 2 news, The Hollywood Reporter also says that Ian McShane will reprise his role as the owner of the fancy assassin hotel that served as a main setting in the original. Since he was one of the few guys on John Wick’s side in the original, we imagine McShane will get killed off in the sequel to raise the stakes. Maybe Common will do it, and then he’ll say something snappy like “this hotel for assassins is under new management.” (The actual writer can punch it up a little bit, we’re just spitballing.)
John Wick 2 will be directed by Chad Stahelski, who co-directed the original.