20 Things You Probably Didn't Know About John Wick
13. The Climactic Fight Between John And Viggo Was Meant To Be Far Longer
Played by the late Michael Nyqvist, Viggo Tarasov was a solid and somewhat colourful opening franchise antagonist for John Wick to go up against. While clearly a hardened criminal, he was more the type to hire vast swaths of henchmen to take on his foes than fight them one-on-one.
However, this would have changed as the crime boss was intended to have an extended bout with Wick in the film's third act. But as the feature's development progressed, directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch realised that this concluding fight did not make sense within the story's context.
On the John Wick: Chapter 2 DVD commentary (via Slash Film), the directing duo pointed out that the elder Tarasov would not stand a chance against a fighter of John's caliber, especially after he mowed down many of Viggo's highly trained men just moments before.