Today, Lionsgate made it official (via Variety) that their next “John Wick” franchise spinoff film will focus on Donnie Yen‘s standout character from “John Wick 4,” Caine. This project’s announcement isn’t exactly a shocking turn of events as it was first teased at the end of the last “John Wick” installment when it looked like Akira was about to get her revenge on the blind assassin after killing her father at the Osaka Continental.
Robert Askins (“The Umbrella Academy”) is writing the developing action pic with plans for filming to begin sometime next year in Yen’s homestead of Hong Kong. Presumably, the idea is to shoot in Hong Kong, not only as a new location in the Wick-a-verse to explore but also would likely be a more comfortable production stay for the film’s star as well, compared to Germany or NYC.
We’ll have to wait for a director to be named, as one isn’t mentioned at this time.
When we’re first introduced to Caine, he’s a bit of a reluctant pursuer of Wick. However, he, like many other characters in the franchise, is beholden to The High Table to keep his daughter safe from harm. It’ll be interesting to see if the Triads will play a role in this spinoff, given the Hong Kong location would be a perfect excuse to explore that criminal syndicate, who are expected to have a seat at The High Table.
Caine is pretty much another shade of John Wick, although being blind adds an extra element to his action sequences. He’s also an obvious homage to the likes of the beloved cinematic Japanese swordsman, Zatoichi, a samurai franchise character who is incredibly skilled and is most often underestimated by strangers he encounters.
The yet-to-be-titled film isn’t the only spinoff movie on the horizon as “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas and Norman Reedus, is expected to debut next summer after some extended reshoots in Budapest with the franchise’s new overseer, Chad Stahelski, deeply involved.
This week it was announced by Lionsgate that their high-profile “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina” would be getting a full-year delay as they hope to beef up the action sequences on the pic led by Oscar-nominee Ana De Armas (“Blade Runner 2049,” “No Time To Die”) and directed by Len Wiseman (“Underworld”). News came not too soon after the reveal that director Chad Stahelski would be the main overseer of both “Highlander” and “John Wick” franchises for Lionsgate moving forward.
The BBC chat show “The One Show” was able to speak with actor Ian McShane, who has been playing the character of Winston for four “John Wick” installments and will be reprising the part alongside Keanu Reeves and the late Lance Reddick in the spinoff. McShane gave some brief insight into the reshoots that will have Stahelski’s involvement, and they’re adding new scenes to, as he put it, “protect the franchise.”
“Then we go on to Budapest. It’s not reshoots it’s new shoots, new shooting for ‘Ballerina’ which is the spinoff with Ana de Armas of the ‘John Wick’ franchise. It’s like they’ve got to protect the franchise and…I did it a year ago, we did the movie, ‘Ballerina,’ and they’ve looked at it and Chad’s come in. The guy who directed all the ‘John Wick” movies and they want to make it better because…Keanu is in it as well and it takes place between ‘John Wick 3’ and ‘John Wick 4.'”
If you’re not aware of what the spinoff is about it will focus on the character of Rooney, who was briefly seen in “John Wick 3” but played by a different actress. Like John, she was adopted into the Ruska Roma, a criminal syndicate connected to Russian/Belarusian organized crime. They take in orphans and turn them into skilled assassins over decades, in the case of Rooney she was trained as a ballerina, hence the title. We’ll see Rooney navigating her own path in this world of assassins including the return of Anjelica Huston as The Director alongside new additions like Norman Reedus (“The Boondock Saints”) and Gabriel Bryne (“The Usual Suspects”).
When asked about the Starz spinoff prequel series “The Continental,” McShane had a surprise reveal about how little participation the film folks had on the show despite it focusing on a younger version of his character.
“They never asked anyone about it, they just went and did it…they never asked us about it.”
“Ballerina” has been delayed a full year with the release date pushed to June 6, 2025. You can view that brief segment on The One Show with McShane below, thanks to Twitter user Adam Khan.
Ian McShane on #TheOneShow is great because I love the honesty – talking about how Ballerina wasn’t good so they need to shoot more stuff to protect the franchise and then how they don’t talk about The Continental show because they just made it without consulting Keanu and him 😭 pic.twitter.com/LwbQrTzLpU
Yesterday, Lionsgate announced that the studio would be delaying their highly anticipated cinematic spinoff to the “John Wick” franchise. The upcoming film titled “Ballerina” will focus on a deadly assassin named Rooney from Wick’s adoptive family, The Ruska Roma, a criminal syndicate that takes in orphans like John to train them over years into skilled killers that will end up earning for the organization. Cuban-American actress Ana De Armas (“No Time To Die,” “The Gray Man”) will be leading the film as Rooney, the titular ballerina, with a supporting cast that consists of Norman Reedus (“Boondock Saints,” “The Walking Dead”), Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects”), Anjelica Huston returning as The Director, Keanu Reeves appearing as John Wick, franchise alumn Ian McShane back in the Winston part, and the late Lance Reddick having shot scenes as Charon.
The studio revealed that “Ballerina” has moved from its prime June 7, 2024, spot to June 6, 2025. This would delay the action pic an entire year. It’s directed by Len Wiseman (“Live Free or Die Hard,” “Underworld” franchise), and multiple trade reports, such as the one from Deadline, are citing the delay is that newly minted franchise overseer Chad Stahelski can amp up the spinoff with some additional action scenes.
A big reason for the return of Wick and Charon is the events of the spinoff are set between “John Wick 3” and just before “John Wick 4.”
This popular action franchise is known for adding actors from various beloved action movies from the past and “Ballerina” is no different. We’re expected to have a cameo from French actress Anne Parillaud, who played the lead role in Luc Besson‘s own iconic 1990 assassin film “La Femme Nikita.” An action movie we’ve long assumed had a huge impact on Stahelski’s visual style for the franchise and could be a reason why the last installment took place in Paris.
Taking that open June 7 spot will be Rupert Sanders‘ (“Ghost In The Shell”) remake of “The Crow” which has Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård (“John Wick 4,” “Atomic Blonde”) playing Eric Draven, a talented rock musician murdered alongside his girlfriend Shelly on Devil’s Night only for Draven to be brought back to life by a crow to enact revenge against their killers. Speaking of Stahelski, the stuntman turned director worked on the original 1994 feature incarnation of the comic book film that sadly saw the death of star Brandon Lee after a stunt with guns went wrong. Lee’s death led filmmakers like Stahelski to engage in greater safety standards on sets when it comes to weapons like firearms. While you might not realize this at first glance, most of the gunfire in the “John Wick” movies is mostly done with digital effects to achieve the muzzle flashes and smoke.
Sometimes franchises stall or simply end. The popular “John Wick” movies are certainly in a very odd place with “John Wick 4” seemingly killing off our skilled protagonist (that taking place off-screen) and while the head of Lionsgate keeps telling the public they’re working on “John Wick 5” it doesn’t seem like that is happening anytime soon, potentially at all.
Director Chad Stahelski, who tackled all four installments, recently spoke with Inverse detailing that the ambiguity of the death of John was done on purpose and ties back to the mythology/fairytale angle they had been aiming for with the franchise.
“We just rationalize that any Greek hero like Odysseus or anybody else over a long enough timeline, every story’s a tragedy. The hero always dies. You just don’t know when. And we also know if you’re a bad guy, you do bad things, bad things happen to you. That’s just the way it goes. So, we always had that hard, hardboiled sensibility. And we got done with 3, and we kind of knew when we were doing the press tour, we’re like, ‘Fuck. We didn’t really end it. We didn’t stick the landing.’ And we had a couple of ideas. And Keanu and I put some things together, and that’s how we built No. 4: ‘OK, this is the swan song.'”
Still, it’s not like Chad and Keanu are saying a fifth installment or more is completely off the table. Stahelski brings up Reeves being game for another one alongside having notebooks full of ideas for another five films (maybe an exaggeration) but waiting for the right “idea” that clicks to get the two of them back. Rather than simply doing another installment because they want to make money from it.
“I have notebooks and notebooks of shit behind me, John Wicks 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. We have ideas for days. We just don’t have the story locked. I have no interest in doing the cash grab of bringing John Wick back for something. Is he a character I like? Of course. And if I did a couple of John Wick movies, great. Keanu would do one again in a second if we had a good story. We leave that open-ended. I know that the studio would love us to say we have another one.”
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if they had killed John Wick, the myth. Allowing John, the man, to potentially live a peaceful life somewhere else away from the grip of The High Table and retribution for all the killing he’s been doing. However, if they did another installment something would have to drag him back What exactly that could be is indeed a head-scratcher.
The filmmaker also commented on Lionsgate’s interest in spinoffs like next summer’s “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas as Rooney, taking place between the events of “John Wick 3” and “John Wick 4” with Reeves set to appear in the action pic. The end of the recent film indicated that they could do another untitled spinoff featuring Donnie Yen’s Caine and Rina Sawayama’s Akira, with the latter seeking revenge for the death of her father in Osaka.
“Keanu and I are always interested in that, but we leave it hanging out there a little bit to figure out if we have something that we’d want to watch. Second, we have a studio that’s very enthusiastic and not just financially motivated, but they’re just interested in seeing what we could do with it. So, they’ve been super cool of us this year about branching off. I know the term is ‘spin-offs’ or ‘ancillaries’ or whatever you want to call it. Keanu and I both went back, and we all said, ‘Look, we have ideas for the John Wick world, other characters that aren’t John Wick-centric. Would you guys be interested in exploring that?’ And they were super cool, and they said, ‘Yes, we’d be very interested in that.’ Characters that weren’t in any of the movies that had fallen to the sidelines because they just didn’t fit in our storylines, and some existing characters that we’d like to see other things.”
Giving everyone involved some breathing room is likely a good idea creatively. Keanu Reeves likely wants to do other things and Stahelski is attached to helm multiple other films such as Lionsgate’s reboot of “Highlander” that has Henry Cavill attached alongside his samurai pic “Ghost of Tsushima” (based on the video game) for Sony Pictures. Perhaps, they’ll reunite for more “John Wick” movies but it does sound like they’re also open to the idea of simply moving on as well.
**** WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ‘JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4’****
Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski have put together quite an entertaining group of action films with the four installments of the “John Wick” franchise. Earlier in the year, “John Wick 4” ended up becoming the highest-grossing film in the batch which is likely why it’s a bit puzzling why the team decided to end “Chapter 4” with the way they did. If you haven’t seen the film, there is a duel in Paris that is assumed to have left John dead from multiple gunshot wounds. While we do see Winston looking down at John’s grave, we don’t actually see the master assassin die on camera, or his body laid to rest for that matter. Potentially, this could have been a constructed way to both end the films there or leave a hypothetical window open for Wick’s “resurrection” in a couple of years by stating the coffin was empty with Wick going off to rest/recover in peace away from The High Table after settling his debt to them.
Despite earlier plans to shoot both “John Wick 4” and “John Wick 5” back-to-back in Germany, they ultimately only made one film and gave everyone involved an out if they truly wanted it. Stahelski recently spoke about the sequel to Josh Horowitz on his podcast (Horowitz suggests we follow Wick into the afterlife/purgatory), Happy Sad Confused, where it was explained that while Keanu Reeves would happily make another one, the director is a bit more apprehensive about it and says waiting for a good reason/idea before jumping into production is key. Citing his worry that it could be seen as treating the loyal audience like idiots for doing a death fake-out.
“If you asked [Keanu] right now, he’d say ‘fuck yeah.’ But, then he’d look and go ‘Well, what is it? I have no fucking clue.’ Look man, we’re going to do our other stuff for a little bit but if…an idea hit me within 30 seconds I’d be on the phone with Keanu and we’d be riffing. We have a lot of set pieces. We have a lot of ideas that didn’t go or we didn’t do. I have no doubt we’ve come up with a lot of great [action} pieces, its just what’s the main thread?…But if we found that moment and found that thread, yeah. I don’t think you’d find anyone invovled with ‘John Wick’ that wouldn’t want to do another one,” the director told Horowitz.
Stahelski still has his own concerns about rushing into it as he brings up the ambiguity of the western “Shane,” where the audience isn’t exactly sure if the hero actually has died, but it’s assumed he has. While also harping on the fact they haven’t cracked a great idea for that return and likely would hinge on that aspect before moving forward.
“I don’t think we bring John Wick back without a real reason. It can’t just be a hook, it’s got to draw people back in. Cause I think most of the audience would like to see Keanu back they just don’t want to be treated like they’re idiots. They don’t want to be treated like ‘Gimmie your fourteen bucks and we’ll bring back the dude to shoot people in the head.’ I’m part of the audience and I would feel ripped off if I did something like that. None of us are opposed to doing five but we just don’t know how to do it, we’re not that smart.”
Interestingly enough, the upcoming spinoff film “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas and helmed by Len Wiseman (“Underworld”) sidesteps this issue as it takes place between the end of “John Wick 3” and the start of “John Wick 4” allowing for characters like Charon and Wick to appear despite their on-screen deaths (many of us are still mourning Lance Riddick’s tragic off-screen death). There could be room to go back into John’s past with the Ruska Roma and explore those events, even if that means hiring a younger actor to fill Keanu’s shoes. What “John Wick 5” ends up looking like might depend heavily on how audiences receive things like “Ballerina” and potentially other spinoffs like the one teased with the end credit scene telegraphing an Akira-centric movie that possibly sees her attempt revenge against Caine for killing her father in Osaka.
It’s also worth pointing out that “other stuff” Stahelski mentions is an ever-growing number of unmade film projects he’s previously attached himself to over the years that he wants to make before tackling a “John Wick 5.” Some of those that standouts include a reboot of the “Highlander” franchise with British actor Henry Cavill still attached for a key role, the “Rainbow Six” movie at Paramount that would see Michael B. Jordan reprise the role of C.I.A. operator John Clark, and another ambitious project, a feature film adaptation of the samurai PlayStation video game, “Ghost of Tsushima.” The latter would see an all-Asian cast with the hopes that it could be done mainly in the Japanese language.
You can watch/listen to that full interview below.
This weekend sees the release of John Wick 4 and longtime director Chad Stahelski has talked about taking a much deserved hiatus from the action-packed franchise. Another film is horizon set directly in the John Wick universe with Ballerina. A spinoff feature film that will see Oscar-nominee Ana de Armas (Blonde) star in the lead after standout supporting roles in high-profile projects like No Time To Time, Blade Runner 2049, and The Gray Man.
One of the landmark films cited as inspiration for Ballerina is Luc Besson’s breakout European thriller La Femme Nikita that starred Anne Parillaud. It centers on a troubled young woman, Nikita, sentenced to lethal injection after a robbery with her street gang cohorts goes wrong leading to multiple deaths including her killing a police officer point blank with a handgun. When she wakes in a secret facility, it’s revealed that Nikita has been selected to become a government assassin. An American remake, Point of No Return, starring Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne would be released in 1993.
Parillaud is now confirmed to appear in Ballerina joining a stellar group of veteran international actors playing various characters in the John Wick universe.
Last month, the French actress posted on her official Instagram account that her role would be simply a cameo and was shooting scenes in Prague. Parillaud has been listed on film’s IMDB page but this is now solid confirmation she is indeed in the spinoff as the actress hadn’t been mentioned in previous trade reports concerning the cast.
Ballerina will focus on Rooney, a young woman connected to the Ruska Roma (Wick’s homestead criminal syndicate) who uses her obtained deadly skills to get revenge when her family is killed by hitmen.
Len Wiseman (Die Hard 4, Underworld) directs from a script penned by Shay Hatten (John Wick 3, John Wick 4) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman). Other members of the supporting cast includes Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Gabriel Byrne (Point of No Return, The Usual Suspects), and Catalina Sandino Moreno. Due to the film being set during the six month gap between the events of John Wick 3 and John Wick 4 we’ll see the return of Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Houston, and the late Lance Reddick in one of his final performances.
We can also share this nifty set photo from Ballerina with Reedus and de Armas.
Speaking of Luc Besson, The Ronin can confirm the spinoff was shot by French cinematographer Romain Lacourbas (The Witcher). The director of photography’s film credits include two action movies that were co-written and produced by Besson with Liam Neeson’s Taken 2 and Colombiana (a spiritual sequel to The Professional) that starred Zoe Saldaña.
Lionsgate hasn’t officially given Ballerina a release date but we’re hopeful that the studio gives the action pic a spot later this year, so they can capitalize on the goodwill of John Wick 4’s success. We’ll just have to wait a little longer before the studio makes an official announcement.
X-Men fans are excited that Aussie actor Hugh Jackman is returning to play Wolverine one more time with Deadpool 3 giving the actor a second chance to say goodbye after previously having a deeply emotion death scene in Logan. It also gives director Shawn Levy an excuse to give Fox’s Singerverse a proper send-off after the franchise previously ended with thud during the wake of Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox. Jackman landing the beloved mutant part in the late 1990s is of the more interesting Hollywood stories as the mostly unknown stage actor had some stiff competition but ultimately landed the part once Scottish Dougray Scott had to exit the superhero flick to focus on John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2. One of those more notable contenders that was in the mix was Canadian actor Keanu Reeves after having starred in the wildly popular cyberpunk flick The Matrix.
Today, during a Reddit Ask Me Anything session to promote the upcoming release of John Wick 4, Reeves reaffirmed losing out to Jackman for the Wolverine role in the original X-Men films was something his still laments.
When directly asked by a fan were any roles he regrets turning down the actor said, “No…but I did always want to play Wolverine.”
It’s a little heartbreaking to hear that over 20 years later that Reeves still considers it the one that got away. Also, a bit ironic that Reeves didn’t get the part since X-Men shot in Toronto, a city where he grew up, and Fox decided to pick an Australian to play a Canadian character.
Reeves is now pushing 60 and just is too long in the tooth to be playing the main version of Wolverine in the MCU once the studio actually hard-reboots the X-Men franchise after Deadpool 3 releases. The actor has been keen to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe since and studio head Kevin Feige has reiterated they’ve been trying to find a role for him multiple times. It does feel like he’ll end up finding something other than Wolverine and we’ll just have to wait to see that is.
While there are a lot of returning cast members from the John Wick franchise appearing in John Wick 4, Halle Berry’s badass character Sofia won’t be reuniting with Keanu Reeves in the upcoming installment.
Berry is on the promotional rounds for her directorial debut Bruised, a Netflix sports drama seeing the actress play an MMA fighter. She revealed to IGN during an interview that while Sofia won’t be showing up in the next film, a spinoff film could be in the cards.
“There could possibly be a Sofia…her own movie. So she might not be in John Wick, but she might be doing her own thingy-thingy,” Berry told IGN.
Lionsgate has yet to announce plans for a Sofia movie and this could be a new revelation from Berry.
John Wick spinoffs are already in the works with the prequel series The Continental at Starz, and a feature film called Ballerina led by Cuban actress Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049, No Time To Die) with director Len Wiseman (Live Free r Die Hard, Underworld) behind the camera.
You might remember that during the Pierce Brosnan era of the James Bond franchise, her character Jinx from Die Another Day was supposed to land a spinoff film, but that ultimately never happened as producers focused on rebooting 007 with Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale.
John Wick 4 was recently bumped to a release date of March 24, 2023.
John Woo is reportedly making his comeback to American action projects, after a nearly 20-year hiatus. The legend of Hong Kong action filmmaking is said to be partnering with John Wick franchise producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee for Silent Night, a high-concept project that will see Swedish actor play a father looking for revenge in the criminal underworld after his son is murdered.
Deadline first reported on the project that is currently being sold at the American Film Market.
The unique angle is that there will be no dialogue will be in the movie.
Woo hasn’t made a mainstream Hollywood film since 2003’s Paycheck and it’s unclear if he’ll return to making Chinese projects after this movie.
He’s likely best known in the west for films such as Hard Target, Face/Off, Windtalkers, Broken Arrow, and Mission: Impossible 2. While those movies had bigger budgets than his Hong Kong movies, the action did not live up to things like The Killer and Hard Boiled. Hopefully, Silent Night can take cues from his earlier work.
Joel Kinnaman is no stranger to action roles in Suicide Squad, RoboCop, The Suicide Squad, Run All Night, Safe House, Snabba Cash, and the cyberpunk series Altered Carbon.
Producers Iwanky and Lee are behind the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4, the John Wick spinoff film Ballerina starring Ana De Armas and directed by Len Wiseman, and the prequel series at Starz, The Continential.
The John Wick franchise is expanding beyond the Keanu Reeves installments as Lionsgate is already pushing forward with a prequel series The Continential at Starz. They’re also developing a female-led film set in the same world of assassins and previously have hired action director Len Wiseman, known for projects like Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, and had been attached to helm a sixth Die Hard for 20th Century Studios before the studio was acquired by Disney.
Ballerina seemingly follows a female assassin from John Wick’s Belarusian syndicate that trains orphaned boys and girls to become killers. Her character will track down the people who killed her parents. This world that assassins inhabit is controlled by The High Table, a group of syndicate leaders from across the globe that rule the underworld with an iron fist. The mythology established in the last three movies suggests a very short but lavished life for these hired killers.
It looks like Lionsgate and Len Wiseman have finally found their lead.
Deadline reports that Cuban actress Ana De Armas (Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out) is now in talks with Lionsgate for the main role after recently stealing scenes in No Time To Die and wrapped on the massive spy flick The Gray Man for the Russo Brothers. It’s certainly a huge get for the production and will likely take the sting away from them recently hiring the very awful Mel Gibson for the television series.
Interestingly enough, some of Ana’s first roles were in the thriller Knock Knock and Exposed opposite Keanu Reeves, who might appear in the pic in a brief cameo. We might even get a nod to Ballerina in John Wick 4, which will debut in theaters next May.
There had been rumblings of the studio looking at younger actresses but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
THE RONIN 