Ian McShane believes 'John Wick: Chapter 4' will shoot this year.

The 78-year-old actor plays the role of Winston in the Keanu Reeves-led action franchise and he expects production on the latest movie to take place in 2021 after being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ian said: "Keanu and I exchanged New Year's greetings and said, 'Hope to see you this year.'

"I know the script is being written and they're hoping to do it this year. I know they announced they were gonna do ('John Wick 4') and ('John Wick 5') together, but who knows. The studios announce all sorts of things. No doubt, at some point this year, we're gonna do 'John Wick 4'."

Ian also reflected on the success of the action franchise and admits that he knew it had "all of the elements" of a hit movie series.

He told Collider: "They got such a good cast for the first one and it was a very good script. I thought the second one wasn't quite as good, but people by then loved it and went with it. I think the third one was really terrific, so it lived up to it.

"I always thought it had legs because of Keanu, a dead wife, a dog, a gun, and a great car. It had all of the elements, so how can you fail?"

It was previously confirmed that the fourth and fifth movies in the series would be filmed back-to-back, but director Chad Stahelski revealed that he was prioritising the fourth installment.

The 52-year-old filmmaker explained: "The way Keanu and I approach it with our writing team is, 'Look, we have ideas, but it's not like I'm working with two sets of writers on two movies.'

"We're going to write a really good number four. If a really good number four feels solid to Keanu and I, we'll make that one. That doesn't mean we won't plan on a five or start writing five, but we want to make sure we have a solid story."