In an interview, the creator of the series, Chad Stahelski revealed that the first draft of the original John Wick script featured much less violence and only 3 deaths.
“I think [Keanu Reeves] sent [the script] to me on a Friday and I read it maybe that day and thought about it over the weekend.
I think only three people died in the original script, two were in a car crash.
It’s just when you shoot people in the head, they can’t get back up so you can reuse a stunt guy.