The John Wick universe is expanding! One of the latest installments is the spin-off film, Ballerina, which will star Knives Out and No Time to Die actor Ana de Armas (pictured above in the last Bond film). The feature is in production now, and here’s a run-down of what we know so far about this upcoming addition to the John Wick franchise.
The project first got public attention way back in October 2019 when we found out that Len Wisemen (Underworld) would be directing the film and that the movie will focus on a young assassin (de Armas) who is looking for revenge against the people who killed her dog family.
In addition to de Armas, we know that Ballerina will see Ian McShane reprise his John Wick role as Winston, the (former) manager of The Continental hotel. Angelica Huston is also returning and will star against de Armas in her role as the Director (a.k.a. the head of the Ruska Roma). Two new faces to the John Wick universe will come in the form of Catalina Sandino Moreno (Silent Night) and Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), although we don’t know who their characters are yet.
And what about John Wick himself? Keanu Reeves will be making an appearance as well, though only in a handful of scenes.
The script for Ballerina has additional ties to the original movies, with Shay Hatten—the scribe behind John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum—penning this one as well. De Armas, however, also got writer Emerald Fennell to provide input on the script. “It was really important for me to hire a female writer, because to that point when I got involved in the project, it was only the director, Len Wiseman, and another guy,” De Amras said in an interview with Elle. “And I was like, ‘That’s not going to work.'”
We don’t have news yet on when Ballerina will be coming out, though we do know the film started production in early November 2022. That makes a 2023 release date possible, but not guaranteed or even likely. In the meantime, we have John Wick 4 to look forward to, which comes out on March 23, 2023.
