Everyone’s favorite dog-loving killing machine is back for his highly anticipated threequel, and now we’ve been left to piece together the puzzle of another pulse-pounding final act. Here’s the ending of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, explained.
Parabellum follows the satisfying formula of the previous Wick flicks, so the amped-up events of Act 3 don’t come as a total surprise. In Morocco, The Elder, the bigwig in The High Table, a super-serious worldwide council of crime lords, kicks off the film’s final act by giving Wick a choice. He can kill Continental NYC manager and Wick ally Winston and live his remaining days as a High Table hitman. Or he can die in the Sahara. After a gruesome act of solidarity, slicing off his ring finger and giving his wedding band to The Elder, Wick heads to the Continental, where a surprising switcheroo awaits him, courtesy of The High Table.
Every Wick fan knows that there are two rules in the Wickverse that carry serious consequences if they’re broken: not honoring a “marker” which is a blood-bound oath and, most importantly, conducting assassination business on any Continental property around the globe.
In Chapter 3’s closing act, a mysterious figure known as The Adjudicator voids the latter law, declaring the NYC Continental as “deconsecrated” in order to send heavily armored High Table thugs into the hotel. These super-soldiers are tasked with taking down John Wick, since Wick chose not to take down Winston, despite the whole cutting-off-his-own-ring-finger thing.
This armored assault doesn’t work, of course, and, after much fancily-choreographed grappling, Wick defeats the High Table goons and The Adjudicator’s hired assassin, Zero, and his blade-happy crew. After the dust settles, The Adjudicator agrees to let Winston stay in the safety of the hotel, but lets Winston know that Wick is still very much a thorn in the High Table’s side.
What Winston does next is a bit ambiguous, but it sure looks like betrayal at first glance: In the swanky rooftop garden of the Continental, last seen in Chapter 2, Winston suddenly shoots Wick several times, causing him to fall to the alley below.
Watch the video to see more of us explaining the end of John Wick 3!
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The Wick formula works | 0:15
The “deconsecration” twist | 0:54
Winston’s betrayal? | 2:08
Wick the pawn? | 3:11
Wick is PO’d | 4:07
What’s up with Wick 4? | 4:41