John Wick Timeline: Every Film and Series in Story Order

The main story begins with john wick 2014, directed by Chad Stahelski and released in the US on October 24, 2014. John Wick is a retired hitman who left the criminal world to marry Helen, and when she dies of illness he receives a puppy she arranged as a last gift.

The trouble starts when Iosef Tarasov, son of John's old employer Viggo, tries to buy John's car, is refused, and returns with friends to beat John, kill the puppy and steal the car. John pulls his old life out of storage and goes after Iosef. Viggo puts a large bounty on John, and John leans on the neutral hotel for criminals, the Continental, and its owner Winston for rest and help. Viggo also hires Marcus, John's old friend, who hesitates and fails.

John kills Iosef, fights through Viggo's men and defeats Viggo in a final fight at a harbor. Wounded, he treats himself and adopts another dog. That ending shows John retired again, though the underworld still has a place for him. For the villain, see viggo tarasov john wick.

In story order, the second film is john wick 2, released in the US on February 10, 2017 with Chad Stahelski back in the director's chair. Its cast widens the underworld considerably, adding Riccardo Scamarcio as Santino D'Antonio, Claudia Gerini as Gianna D'Antonio, Laurence Fishburne as the Bowery King, Common as Cassian and Ruby Rose as Ares.

The production moved from New York to Rome for location shooting, as Screen Global Production reported in January 2016.

The consequences matter for the next entry, because Chapter 3 opens with John declared excommunicado after killing Santino D'Antonio. For the man who sets that in motion, see santino d'antonio john wick, and for the street level network that later shelters John, see the bowery king john wick.

John wick 3, released in the US on May 17, 2019, picks up straight after Chapter 2 and is the middle anchor of the whole timeline. John has just killed Santino D'Antonio, and a killing inside the Continental, which breaks the hotel's rules, leaves him excommunicado with a short grace period before a huge bounty takes effect.

The story then runs as a chain of favors. In Manhattan he patches himself up and calls in the Director of the Ruska Roma, who sends him to Casablanca to find the Elder, the one figure above the High Table. Sofia Al-Azwar gets him to the Elder, then abandons him in the desert after the kasbah escape. The price of forgiveness is the death of Winston Scott and a lifetime of service, and John answers by cutting off his ring finger.

The New York half closes the loop. The High Table strips the Continental of its protection and sends Zero with a team of enforcers, John beats Zero, and Winston shoots him off the roof. It is a ruse, and John recovers with the Bowery King, which sets up the three way pact that drives Chapter 4. Because Ballerina happens in these same events, this is also where the timeline splits into two lanes. See winston john wick and sofia al azwar john wick.

Ballerina (2025), directed by Len Wiseman, is set during the events of Chapter 3, according to TheWrap's coverage of the trailer. It was released in the US on June 6, 2025, which is why it sits after Chapter 4 in release order but before it in story order.

The film follows Eve, played by Ana de Armas, who is raised in the Ruska Roma after a cult kills her father and trains as a killer to find the people responsible. A tip takes her to Prague, where she meets Daniel Pine, a cult member trying to protect his young daughter Ella, and the trail then points toward the cult's stronghold in Hallstatt, Austria. Eve meets her older sister Lena there, and Lena dies after grenades wound them both.

The Director sends John Wick to stop Eve, and he gives her a short window to deal with the Chancellor, the cult's leader. Eve shoots the Chancellor and rescues Ella, who is reunited with Pine. Winston warns her that the survivors will come after her, and at a performance of Swan Lake a message announces a 5 million dollar bounty on her. See ballerina john wick and eve ballerina.

John wick 4, released in the US on March 24, 2023 and running 170 minutes, is the last entry on the timeline so far, and it closes the war that Chapter 3 started. John has killed the Elder, so the High Table answers by handing its authority to the Marquis, who removes Winston from his post, destroys the New York Continental and has Charon killed. Caine, a blind retired assassin and an old friend of John, is pulled back in because his daughter is under threat.

The middle of the film is a route map toward a duel. The Osaka Continental under Shimazu is the first stop, and Shimazu dies there while Caine spares his daughter Akira. A formal duel needs a crime family to sponsor John, so Berlin and the Ruska Roma come next, where Katia demands the death of Killa Harkan first. Paris is the finish line, with a sunrise duel at Sacré-Cœur and a climb up the Rue Foyatier steps.

Caine wounds John, Winston reminds everyone that John still holds a third shot, and the Marquis falls. The Harbinger releases John and Caine and returns Winston to his role. A gravestone beside Helen's, with John's name on it, is the last image before a post credit scene gives Caine and Akira a loose thread. See marquis de gramont john wick, caine john wick and charon john wick.

In my opinion, the cleanest way to read the John Wick timeline is as one straight line with a single overlap. Chapters 1 to 4 run in order, Ballerina runs alongside Chapter 3, and The Continental sits far behind all of them in 1975.

Why is John Wick in Ballerina? The Director of the Ruska Roma sends him after Eve, and he gives her a short window to deal with the Chancellor before he acts. That is a clean tie to Chapter 3, where the same Director, played by Anjelica Huston, helps John with passage to Casablanca. Winston and Charon also appear in both films, and Screen Daily noted that Unity Phelan, who plays the young Ballerina in Chapter 3, is the same character Ballerina follows. Those shared faces are, to my eye, the strongest proof that the spinoff is a side lane rather than a sequel.

Did John Wick's wife know he was a hitman? The plot of John Wick (2014) establishes that he left the criminal world to marry Helen, and it does not state how much she knew about his past. What it does show is that she arranged for a puppy to be delivered to him so he would not be alone, which makes the opening a grief story first and a crime story second.

As for which year each film is set in, the only story year confirmed is 1975 for The Continental. If you are new to the saga, I would watch in release order first, because Ballerina lands better once you know who Winston and the Director are. A second viewing in story order, with Ballerina slotted after Chapter 3, shows how the Ruska Roma thread runs through both. The full lists are on john wick movies in order, and the series overview is on john wick movies.