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Bill Skarsgård wasn’t always going to play the John Wick 4 villain

We can't wait to see Bill Skarsgård as the movie villain of John Wick 4, but the actor was originally set to play a very different character

Bill Skarsgard in John Wick 4

We’ve seen Bill Skarsgård play some creepy guys of late, from the terrifying Pennywise in the horror movie IT to the not-to-be trusted Keith in the 2022 hit Barbarian. When it comes to the action movie John Wick 4, Skarsgård is once again playing a questionable character, but that wasn’t always the case.

Skarsgård will take on the role of Marquis in the upcoming Keanu Reeves movie, and he looks set to be a nefarious nemesis for our favourite hitman. We don’t know a lot about Marquis, but we reckon he’s going to cause some problems for Wick.

Turns out, Skarsgård could have played a different role, but in an interview with Total Film, director Chad Stahelski revealed the actor insisted on playing the movie villain.

“I was actually contacting Bill for a different part. After he read the script, he came back and went, ‘I want to play the Marquis.’ And I was like, ‘Really?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s where all the fun is!” Stahelski explained.

We wonder who Stahelski wanted him to play initially. Clearly, Skarsgård just loves playing bad guys and weirdos. Fair play to him, though – if you’re good at something, stick to your guns. We’re sure he’s going to smash the role and be the kind of villain we love to hate.

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The one condition we have is, Skarsgård just better not hurt any dogs, or we will never forgive him. We’ll have to wait until the thriller movie is released to find out if Skarsgård is truly in our bad books.

For more John Wick related content, check out our guide to The Continental release date, the TV series based on the iconic hotel for hitmen.