Keanu Reeves Will Reprise His Iconic Assassin Role in Spin-Off

Summary:

• Beyond the original movie series, the John Wick franchise keeps expanding with spin-off TV shows.
• While The Continental didn’t land well, the upcoming 2025’s Ballerina with Ana de Armas has better chances.
• The recent CinemaCon footage proved that, despite his previous statements, Keanu Reeves will reprise his role in the spin-off.

The John Wick movies set a brand-new golden standard for action movies: Chad Stahelski rushed into the world of cinema and, together with Keanu Reeves, changed the industry. John Wick became an instant classic, but unfortunately, the movie series ended with the fourth installment against Stahelski’s initial five-part plan. Well, at least, there will be spin-offs — and there will be more Keanu!

Ballerina Expands the John Wick World

The first John Wick spin-off, The Continental didn’t work out too well: made without anyone from the original movies’ involvement, it tried expanding the lore of this assassin-fueled world but failed. The fact that the original cast publicly slammed it and called the TV show a “cash grab” definitely didn’t improve its popularity.

Ballerina is a whole different story. The Ana de Armas-led spin-off is partially overseen by Chad Stahelski and boasts a star-studded cast. Apart from the lead actress, the list of Ballerina’s stars include Ian McShane, late Lance Reddick, and Norman Reedus, with the former two reprising their roles from the original films.

But of course, the audience only cares about another lead star’s presence in the upcoming spin-off. The Keanu Reeves mystery has been on everyone’s minds.

Keanu Reeves to Return in Ballerina

After many months of speculations, we finally have the answer. While Keanu Reeves previously claimed to have stepped away from the franchise, the Ballerina footage revealed at the recent CinemaCon proved that the John Wick star will, in fact, make an appearance in Ana de Armas’ spin-off which is amazing news for the audience.

John Wick’s presence makes sense in terms of the timeline: the events of Ballerina take place between the third and the fourth original movies. Arguably, Keanu Reeves will play a small part and won’t take up much screen time at all, but it’s the effort that counts. The actor’s very appearance will give Ballerina something very important that The Continental didn’t have: legitimacy in the franchise in fans’ eyes.