Everything you need to know for John Wick spinoff Ballerina

April 10, 20246 Mins Read

In 2014, Keanu Reeves starred as a retired hit man thrust back into the criminal underworld in John Wick. The film exceeded box office and critical expectations, with many fans and pundits praising Reeves’ performance and the elaborate action sequences. John Wick spawned three sequels, with the latest entry – John Wick: Chapter 4 – premiering in March 2023.

The billion-dollar franchise is now expanding with spinoffs, which began with The Continental, Peacock’s limited series about a young Winston Scott’s rise to power in New York City. The next project will be Ballerina, the first spinoff feature film in the franchise. Here is everything you need to know about Ballerina, including the release date, cast, synopsis, and trailer.

Ballerina release date

Ballerina has been delayed. Originally scheduled for June 7, 2024, Ballerina now moves to June 6, 2025. Deadline reported that John Wick director Chad Stahelski, who recently signed a new deal with Lionsgate, is helping Ballerina director Len Wiseman develop additional action sequences.

Ballerina cast

Ana de Armas stars as Rooney, the titular Ballerina. The ballerina briefly appeared in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Rooney, played by Unity Phelan, was onstage at the ballet academy when John visited The Director, the leader of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate. Anjelica Huston, who starred as The Director in Chapter 3, reprises her for Ballerina.

Other actors from previous John Wick films who are scheduled to appear in Ballerina include Reeves as John Wick, Ian McShane as Winston Scott, and the late Lance Reddick as Charon. Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, and Gabriel Byrne have been cast in undisclosed roles.

What is Ballerina about?

Ballerina will center around Rooney’s quest for revenge as she hunts down the people who murdered her family. De Armas stars as Rooney, a ballerina training to become a highly skilled assassin in the Ruska Roma. The Russian crime syndicate was introduced in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

After being declared “excommunicado,” John meets with The Director, the head of the Ruska Roma, at her performing arts institute to discuss safe passage to Casablanca. The ballet institute trains men and women to be assassins, and John previously trained there as “Jardani Jovonovich.”

At Comic-Con Experience 2022, Reeves touched on the plot points in Ballerina. “[She is a] woman who has some very difficult circumstances and who’s looking for revenge,” Reeves said via Collider. “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.”

When does Ballerina take place?

In the John Wick universe, Ballerina is set between the events of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. More specifically, Ballerina takes place about six months after the events in the third film.

Who is directing and writing Ballerina?

Ballerina is directed by Wiseman, who helms his first feature film since 2012’s Total Recall. Ballerina’s screenplay was written by Shay Hatten, who co-wrote John Wick: Chapter 4 and Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. Hatten wrote a spec script in 2017 that would serve as the basis for Ballerina. Emerald Fennell, who wrote and directed Saltburn, was brought in to help rewrite parts of the script. Ballerina‘s producers include Stahelski, Basil Iwanyk, and Erica Lee.

In an interview with Digital Trends, Hatten teased what to expect in Ballerina. “Well, what I think is cool is that this centers on a character that came up through the same ballet theater under the tutelage of Anjelica Huston that we see John take a stop at in the third movie,” Hatten said. “So you realize, ‘Oh, this character might be someone who shares some similar origin elements with John.’ In a cool way, it hints at the backstory for John, but we’re telling it through the lens of a different character.”

What is Keanu Reeves’s involvement in Ballerina?

Keanu Reeves returns in the first footage from #JohnWick Presents: Ballerina that was shown off at #CinemaCon.The trailer ends with Keanu Reeves as John Wick offering advice for how to be an assassin to Ana de Armas' character pic.twitter.com/zuoN2yOUOk

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) April 10, 2024

Reeves has become synonymous with the John Wick franchise. The four films have revitalized his standing as one of the best action heroes in Hollywood. Reeves’ assassin will briefly appear in Ballerina. It is not a cameo role, however. While speaking with EW, Reeves teased his “small” involvement in Ballerina.

“Yeah, I got to work with Ana de Armas, and the director Len Wiseman, and they had a great script, and John Wick has a small part to play in it,” Reeves said. “Len Wiseman was cool. He was like, ‘Where do you want to pitch this story in [the] timeline?’ So, it takes place between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of the John Wick stories. It was fun to put the suit back on.”

At CinemaCon 2024, Reeves’s Wick appeared at the end of the trailer shown to the audience. According to reports, de Armas’ character asks how to become a professional killer, to which Wick replies, “Looks like you already have.”

Ballerina marks Lance Reddick’s final role

Ballerina marks the final on-screen role for Reddick, who died from heart disease on March 17, 2023. Reddick’s death came one week before the release of John Wick: Chapter 4 in the U.S. In the John Wick franchise, Redick played Charon, the Continental Hotel’s concierge and Winston’s right-hand man. Reddick completed his scenes for Ballerina before his death.

Is there a trailer for Ballerina?

Lionsgate unveiled a new trailer at CinemaCon for John Wick spinoff #Ballerina starring Ana de Armas.

In it, de Armas’ assassin makes short work of several assailants, torching a truck with a flamethrower, leaping from moving vehicles and engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat… pic.twitter.com/jRJayNJhoy

— Variety (@Variety) April 10, 2024

Unfortunately, no trailer has been released to the public. However, the studio revealed the first footage of Ballerina to the audience at CinemaCon 2024. According to Variety, the trailer was heavy on fight sequences and hand-to-hand combat. The footage was compared to de Armas’ noteworthy appeareance in No Time to Die, where she fought alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond.