As revealed in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, which tackled John Wick's origin story, Jardani Jovonovich is the real name of Keanu Reeves' eponymous assassin in John Wick. The first film only explained that John used to be a prolific assassin working for The Continental who jumps back into this lifestyle after his dog is killed. After John Wick: Chapter 2 revealed more the global cabal of assassins John is a part of, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum dug further into John Wick's backstory as a member of the Ruska Roma, one of the powerful criminal factions that pay fealty to the High Table.
Meanwhile, John Wick: Chapter Four will be diving even deeper into John Wick's origin, as John and his allies stand against the Elder and the High Table and attempt to unravel the criminal organization's secrets. The franchise has consistently doled out tales about how John came to be known as the Baba Yaga. Finally, Chapter Four could show audiences more about how Jardani Jovonovich became John Wick, and how John actually earned the Baba Yaga nickname.
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John Wick's Real Name Is Jardani Jovonovich
After John is able to fend off a few dozen assassins, he sets his plan to leave New York and escape with the hope of meeting the one man who is above The High Table so that he can be pardoned and continue to live. This plan takes John to Eastern Europe, and it's during these scenes that a major revelation comes, as John proclaims that his real name is Jardani Jovonovich.
Apparently, John Wick's origin is the mysterious Ruska Roma (the central focus of the upcoming John Wick spinoff, Ballerina). Jardani means John in Romani, and since John reverts to calling himself this during the exchange. It appears that Jardani Jovonovich is his birth name — and maybe even to John still his real name — and he adopted the Westernized John Wick when embraced his assassin lifestyle. It also means that the name "John Wick" isn't just random but deliberately chosen, as his last name of Wick is pulled from the end of Jovonovich.
How The Director Fits In To John Wick's Ruska Roma Origin
John only goes back to his old name though because he is speaking to The Director — played by Anjelica Huston — the head of the Ruska Roma where John grew up. Angelica Huston's The Director will also be in Ballerina. She is another high-ranking figure within this assassin's underworld (but is still below the laws and rules of the High Table). Because of this, The Director shouldn't even be speaking to John based on his excommunicado status.
However, there is an implied long history between them that makes her go against her better judgment and help John — the untold parts of John Wick's origin story. Eventually, helping John comes back to hurt The Director, as an Adjudicator from the High Table pays her a visit with a band of assassins. The Director is ordered to stick her hands out together and the Adjudicator orders a sword to go through them both, leaving her with a permanent reminder of the cost of helping John and betraying the High Table.
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The School
The Director appears to be a vital part of the criminal world of John Wick, as she is in charge of a school that develops and trains young assassins. The front for the Ruska Roma's operation is a ballet studio and performance center, but the students are being taught much more than just dance. The boy students are shown training in combat, while the girls are shown perfecting their dance routines. However, the first scene at the school features one female dancer with bruises on her body (likely from the combat training), while a later scene includes male dancers too, so all the attendees are receiving the same training.
This school is more important to the John Wick universe beyond its role in the overall system though, as it also appears to be where John Wick's martial arts training first began. All the students have the same cross tattoo on their backs as John is shown to have on multiple occasions, and this further explains why he knows of the location and has a connection to The Director. This wasn't just a place for John to go to get away, but may very well be how he got started on this path to begin with.
The Rosary/Ruska Roma Ticket
John Wick/Jardani Jovonovich's rosary, which John uses as a ticket to plead for The Director and Ruska Roma's help, is the latest important artifact to come from the John Wick universe. Based on what little else has been revealed about John Wick's origin story, the cross or rosary represents a debt owed to him by The Director. The cross is John's ticket to escape New York and secure safe passage from The Director's forces all the way to Casablanca.
Like John Wick's blood oath markers, the ticket can only be used one time, as the acceptance of the cross by The Director then sees the ticket punched (in a sense) by the cross being put in fire and then branded upside down in the center of the cross tattoo on John's back, signifying that it has been used. The commonality of the cross tattoos with assassins at the school may further indicate that this is all part of this particular school's traditions. These new details on Jardani Jovonovich/John Wick's backstory ultimately leave fans with much more knowledge about Baba Yaga and his journey.
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When it is all pieced together, John appears to have been trained as an assassin from a young age, possibly became a Marine (if the back tattoo is more than just symbolic), returned to the assassin world, left it to get married, and is now once again entrenched in this lifestyle. With John Wick: Chapter 4 teasing more adventures to come, the sequels and spinoffs are bound to reveal even more about John Wick's past.
John Wick 4 Will Expand His Character Further
According to Keanu Reeves, the story of Jardani Jovonovich is far from over. "I think we really wanted just to expand the John Wick universe," explained Reeves (via Yahoo!). Reeves also said that in John Wick: Chapter 4, they sought to connect this expansion to "John and the journey that he was on, but also now opening it up to friendships." Following John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, it seems that Chapter 4 will also continue building John's relationships with his colleagues in the criminal underworld.
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