It’s no secret that a great soundtrack can make a movie unforgettable. In the case of the John Wick franchise, Tyler Bates’ compositions have become just as iconic as Keanu Reeves. But as it turns out, the music behind the bullets and mayhem almost had an unexpected rock legend in the mix – Eddie Van Halen.
In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Bates opened up about a missed opportunity that could have taken the John Wick theme to legendary status. “At one point, we almost had Eddie Van Halen play on the John Wick theme, toward the end of his life,” Bates revealed. According to the composer, the idea came up during the production of John Wick: Chapter 2 or 3. Eddie actually visited Bates’ home studio and spent time hanging out, but something felt off.
“He hadn’t picked up a guitar in a while,” Bates recalled. “I could tell he wasn’t in the headspace to create, even though it was amazing just to have him over.”
Bates wanted to respect Van Halen’s space but still gently nudged him. “I told him, ‘You live 10 minutes away. If you want to play, I’ll set up a guitar for you. And if you hate it, I’ll destroy the recording right in front of you.’ He really appreciated that.”
Sadly, the collaboration never happened. What did grow, however, was a friendship rooted in real conversations – often centered on Van Halen’s health battles. “He probably sensed I’d gone through some stuff too,” Bates said. “Our talks became more about life than music.” Another could-have-been? Keanu Reeves himself.
Despite being a skilled bassist and the face of the franchise, Reeves turned down Bates’ request to secretly lay down bass lines on the theme.
“I said, ‘Dude, you should play bass on the theme. No one even has to know. It’d just be a cool connection between all of us,’” Bates said. “But Keanu was like, ‘Tyler, man. You’ve got to do this.’”
Reeves declined because he didn’t want to hijack credit for the soundtrack. “He didn’t want it to leak that he played, and suddenly he’s getting praise for the whole score,” Bates explained.
Although the dream collabs with Eddie and Keanu never happened, Bates still made musical waves with other heavy hitters. He worked with Evanescence and K.Flay on the upcoming John Wick spin-off Ballerina, and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains fame contributed “A Job to Do” to John Wick 2.
Meanwhile, the Van Halen universe continues to ripple. Sammy Hagar recently opened up about his creative connection with Eddie and why the guitar icon slowed down on releasing new music in the 2000s.
So next time you watch John Wick, imagine what could’ve been—an Eddie Van Halen solo blazing through a gunfight, or Keanu Reeves quietly thumping basslines beneath the chaos. It didn’t happen, but it almost did. And that, somehow, makes the myth even cooler.
