The 2014 Keanu Reeves-led revenge action thriller John Wick (Certified Fresh at 86%) wasn’t a financial success ($86 million globally), but Lionsgate persisted with a sequel called John Wick: Chapter 2 (Certified Fresh at 89%), which nearly doubled the first movie’s total ($171 million globally) and gave rise to an action franchise. 

Lionsgate has begun production on Ballerina, the first John Wick spinoff, with Blonde (Rotten at 42%) star Ana de Armas playing the lead character. John Wick: Chapter 4 will be released on March 4, 2023.

De Armas was initially mentioned in connection with Ballerina more than a year ago, but when production got underway, it was also revealed that two John Wick actors would be returning to their roles. 

The first was the most obvious, as John Wick’s co-star Keanu Reeves is already in Prague filming Ballerina (the setting of the film is unknown, thus Keanu’s sequences may have taken place before John Wick itself). 

Ian McShane, who previously portrayed Winston, the general manager of the Continental hotel that welcomes assassins, in the first three John Wick movies, is the second series actor who will be returning his role in Ballerina.

Although at one point it was anticipated that the fifth movie would shoot immediately after Chapter 4, director Chad Stahelski stated in August that the choice remains in Lionsgate’s corporate hands.