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Keanu Reeves’ 4-part fantasy series is a perfect HBO Max binge hiding in plain sight
The article argues that the four John Wick films should be viewed not only as action thrillers but as a modern fantasy franchise, and recommends binge-watching them on HBO Max before they leave the service on 31 July. It says the series matters because director Chad Stahelski builds an expansive hidden world beneath everyday society, using assassin rituals, codes and institutions to create the depth usually associated with fantasy settings.
Rather than relying on magic or mythical creatures, the films use gold coins, blood-debt markers, the Continental hotel and the High Table as equivalents to enchanted objects, sanctuaries and royal courts. The article highlights how the films avoid lengthy explanations, gradually revealing a centuries-old global assassin society through details such as specialised concierges, tailors, doctors and operators; later instalments expand its reach from New York to Rome and Morocco.
In short
- John Wick is presented as fantasy disguised as action.
- Its hidden assassin world deepens across four films.
- All four leave HBO Max on 31 July.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The films construct an elaborate hidden world with its own laws, institutions, rituals and economy operating beneath everyday society, much like traditional fantasy worldbuilding. The depth revealed gradually across four films—from the Continental's rules to the High Table's global reach—mirrors how fantasy epics develop their settings. Using coins, codes and sanctuaries rather than magic doesn't diminish the fantasy interpretation; it's simply a contemporary, grounded approach to creating an alternate reality with its own complete civilisation.
The case against
The John Wick films are fundamentally modern action thrillers set in recognisable contemporary cities, not fantasy. Whilst they feature impressive worldbuilding around assassin networks and secret societies, these represent plausible real-world criminal and institutional structures rather than explicitly fantastical elements like magic or the supernatural. Calling them fantasy conflates sophisticated worldbuilding with genre; they belong more accurately to noir or thriller traditions where complex underground organisations exist within our actual world, not in a separate realm governed by different rules.
Explained simply
The John Wick films are action thrillers starring Keanu Reeves as an assassin pulled back into his violent world. Director Chad Stahelski has created what some view as a modern fantasy franchise that conceals an elaborate underground society within our everyday world.
Beneath the gun-fuelled action lies a complex system of rules, codes and institutions governing a global network of assassins. Rather than relying on magic or mythical creatures, the films use real-world objects and concepts like gold coins, blood-debt markers and secret hotels as equivalents to enchanted artefacts and mystical sanctuaries. The series gradually reveals centuries of hidden assassin history through details such as concierges, tailors, doctors and operatives dedicated to this world, with later films expanding the narrative across continents including Rome and Morocco.
Rather than pausing to explain themselves, the films trust audiences to piece together the mythology through careful observation and progression across the series. This approach provides the action thrillers with the narrative depth usually associated with high fantasy.