The action genre had been on life support for quite some time, with a laundry list of forgettable, CGI-ridden schlock that felt all too disposable. Gone were the glory days kick-started by franchises like Die Hard and Rambo, fans of the genre everywhere were subjected to giant robot fights and superhero films, which aren't always a bad thing, but feel all too interchangeable. Then, all of a sudden, completely out of nowhere in the year, a shining light appeared. An action film so good, so visceral, and so instantly iconic that it justifiably earned a reputation as not only the best new action film in years but a film that would change the action genre as we knew it forever.
That film, of course, was John Wick, directed by experienced stuntmen Chad Stahelski and David Leitch and starring the legendary lead of The Matrix series, Keanu Reeves. On paper, the film's now universally known concept of a former assassin going on a revenge-fueled rampage all because his dog was killed sounds completely absurd but proved to be a perfect catalyst for a perfectly executed action extravaganza. Though John Wick may have started as a word-of-mouth cult classic, it quickly sprouted into a blossoming franchise, featuring three equally excellent sequels, and a prequel series, The Continental. A fifth film is also being planned, alongside an interconnected universe of films and television series.
The Continental may be the first television spin-off to grace the world of John Wick, but there's also another mysterious project that will mark the first feature film spin-off for the hit action franchises. Titled Ballerina (or by its full unapologetically long full title From the World of John Wick: Ballerina), this new vengeful adventure will see a new protagonist follow in John Wick's footsteps, further expanding the complex mythology of this criminal underworld and potentially further elaborating on John Wick himself's mysterious past. Though this is very much a new story with new characters to follow, it's been confirmed that Ballerina will see the return of quite a few familiar faces. To find out who those faces are as well as when you can expect to see the new film hit screens everywhere, read below to find out everything we know so far about Ballerina.
Editor's Note: This article was last updated on September 26.
6 Does 'Ballerina' Have a Release Date?
Ballerina is set to release in theaters on Friday, June 6, 2025, amidst a crowded summer movie season that also includes Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Mission: Impossible 8, Jurassic World: Rebirth, and the live-action How to Train Your Dragon.
Ballerina was initially scheduled to release an entire year earlier on Friday, June 7, 2024, but Lionsgate ultimately decided to delay the film to shoot additional action scenes.
5 Will 'Ballerina' Be Released in Theaters or on Streaming?
Ballerina will be following in the footsteps of the earlier John Wick films and be a theatrical release.
4 Is There a Trailer for 'Ballerina'?
The first official trailer for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina was released by Lionsgate on September 26, 2024. Appropriately (or inappropriately depending on who you ask) set to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," the trailer begins with our main heroine, Eve, as a child, meeting Winston, who takes her in. The trailer then flashes forward to Eve as an adult in training, watched over by "the Director," and spying on John Wick himself. From there we learn that Eve is on a path of vengeance against the villainous Chancellor who killed her father. The trailer ends with Eve meeting John Wick.
3 Who's Starring in 'Ballerina'?
Leading the charge as Eve Macarro is Ana de Armas, following an impressive recent career following her breakout performance in Blade Runner 2049, her lovable pseudo-detective in Knives Out, and even showed off her potential as an action star in her brief yet memorable role in No Time To Die. The new cast also gets bigger with The Walking Dead fan favorite Norman Reedus being cast as the mysterious Pine, Gabriel Byrne (Hereditary) plays the film's main antagonist the Chancellor, and Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Dune: Part One) as Nogi. Also joining the John Wick universe are Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) and David Casta?eda (The Umbrella Academy) in yet-to-be-disclosed roles.
Perhaps the most exciting news for John Wick fans is the surprising number of returning stars from the main series. Confirmed to return for Ballerina are Keanu Reeves himself as modern action hero icon John Wick, Ian McShane as Continental manager Winston, and Anjelica Huston as ballerina assassin instructor The Director. On a tragic note, Ballerina will mark the final on-screen appearance from the late Lance Reddick as the faithful and professional concierge Charon. Reddick passed away from a battle with heart disease back in March 2023, right before the release of John Wick Chapter 4.
While talking with Collider's Steve Weintraub, McShane teased his role in Ballerina, along with Reddick and Reeves' roles:
"Well, it’s similar. Keanu’s in it too, but they’re all cameos in it. Basically, throughout the movie, he's dotted a little more, and [Ana de Armas] was great doing her action, you know, she was terrific."
Reddick also added:
"Our participation in it is so much about helping to, for the audience, connect that it's part of the same world."
Although producer Erica Lee told Weintraub that McShane's role will give him a bit more to do than Reddick and Reeves, elaborating:
“Ian has a little bit more to do, and John Wick is an extended cameo. He shot for about a week. Lance shot for a day. Those were last minute adds in a way, too. How do we merge the worlds a bit more, so there's a bit of more of brand continuity? Because obviously, she's a ballerina in the Ruska Roma School, so that was having Anjelica [Huston] as The Director was always an organic way in, and she always did check into a Continental. But then it was fun to have Ian and Lance come. I didn't know if Keanu was going to do the movie. I think we had always hoped he would. Then the timeline thing became a thing because we were still in post on ‘John Wick 4,’ and it was like, is he dead? Is he not? Is he dead? Yeah, let's do this, so it makes sense chronologically and gives us a minute to figure it all out.”
Reedus spoke about working on the set of Ballerina, telling Collider:
"It was painful. [Laughs] I just got back from Budapest where we added more fight scenes to it. So, I went from Japan to Budapest, back to Japan basically. It's high-octane. It's a cool story, it's well-acted, visually stunning, but it's just like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
2 What Is the Plot of 'Ballerina'?
The official synopsis for Ballerina, from Lionsgate, reads:
Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.
While promoting John Wick: Chapter 4 at CCXP 2022, Keanu Reeves shed a bit more light on the new project:
"[she is a] woman who has some very difficult circumstances and who's looking for revenge. Whoever killed her- someone killed her father. Who could that be? And so it's her journey for actually understanding her past. She lost her father at a young age, and she doesn't really know what happened. Only that someone came into the house and killed her father, who had a tattoo. And as we know in John Wick, if you have a tattoo, something's going on."
Reeves also revealed that the film will take place in between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. In an interview with Collider's Robert Taylor, McShane explained why the film will be taking place between the third and fourth films.
This one is set in between John Wick 3 and John Wick 4, because Keanu is in it, too. You didn't want to set it after John Wick 4, because then you'd have social media saying, "Oh, so he's still alive! What's he going to do next time? Is there a John Wick 5?!" This way, you can still keep up the pretense that there might not be a John Wick 5.
If the concept of ballerina assassins sounds familiar, that's because we got a brief glimpse of them in Chapter 3, when John seeks the aid of a mysterious figure from his past known only as The Director (Anjelica Huston). As per usual in the John Wick universe, all is not as it seems. This isn't a simple ballet academy, but a front to train skilled assassins for various criminal enterprises. The statement from Reeves also seems to indicate that there will be some sort of murder mystery angle at play, with the main character of Eve (Ana de Armas), finding out who did this. Perhaps this has a connection to the High Table murdering her peers and Director midway through Chapter 3, but the inclusion of her father's death raises questions as to who this killer could be.
Screenwriter Shay Hatten revealed that Ballerina will also explore more about John Wick's origin story, saying in an interview:
"The original script was set [in the] Swiss Alps, which is territory that the John Wick movies have not touched. So, I think in a great way, it meant that we could kind of stick to the original story of that script from Ballerina without stepping on the toes of John Wick. But also it's a character who we know went to the same ballet academy as John. I think in Ballerina you'll get to see some of the hints of what John experienced during his origins in that place, but through the eyes of a different character. It still solves some of the answers of Wick, just through the eyes of a new character."
1 Who Is Making 'Ballerina'?
With main franchise director Chad Stahelski focused on Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 (not to mention the upcoming Highlander remake and Ghosts of Tsushima adaptation), directing duties will now be overseen by Len Wiseman, best known for the first two Underworld films. Screenwriter Shay Hatten, who wrote John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, initially wrote Ballerina as a standalone film, until it was reworked to be a part of the John Wick franchise. It's a situation that's similar to what can be seen in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), where an original standalone script was tweaked to fit into an established IP. Academy Award Winner Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) co-wrote the reworked script alongside Hatten.
The rest of the crew is rounded out by cinematographer Romain Lacourbas (The Witcher), production designer Philip Ivey (District 9), costume designer Tina Kalivas (Australia), and casting director Olivia Scott-Webb (The Queen's Gambit).
McShane praised the film's creative team, saying:
"They tend to make me sound a bit like an English dictionary sometimes on John Wick. They're great writers — Michael [Finch] and Shay [Hatten] on those. We go through it, I check with them, and we cut it down to whatever. Len had conferred with Chad [Stahelski], so I think there's a continuity from the other Wick movies. So it should be very enjoyable.
While talking to Collider's Perri Nemiroff at the 2024 edition of TIFF, mere weeks before the release of the trailer, de Armas spoke about the reshoots, saying:
"All we did in those reshoots had to be there. We got amazing footage. It's really spectacular. A trailer is coming out soon , I’ve been told. I saw it, and it's beautiful. I'm very proud of it. It's really exciting. It's dangerous, it's sexy, it's very John Wick . I think people are going to be surprised. I'm biased. Of course, I like the movie, but I think it's really cool. It's going to be amazing."
While The Wrap initially reported that Stahelski oversaw extensive reshoots in Prague that lasted 2–3 months, ScreenRant reported that wasn't entirely the case, as the reshoots only lasted for 29 days and were overseen by Wiseman, with Stahelski assisting on set. Stahelski had only stepped in when Wiseman suffered from a medical emergency and was briefly hospitalized.
A young female assassin seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.
- Sequel(s)
- John Wick: Chapter 4
- Franchise(s)
- John Wick
- Main Genre
- Action
- Studio(s)
- Summit Entertainment, Thunder Road Films, 87Eleven Productions
- Distributor(s)
- Lionsgate
