It’s a good time to be a John Wick fan. Next week, a little under two years after it was originally supposed to come out, John Wick: Chapter 4 will finally arrive in theaters. Additionally, along with The Continental prequel series expected to premiere on Peacock later this year, there’s a spinoff movie coming called Ballerina. Along with it finally being confirmed that Reeves will appear in Ballerina opposite Ana de Armas, it’s been revealed why he and director Chad Stahelski decided to make a fourth movie in the main John Wick film series.
Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski have been on this John Wick journey together since the beginning, with the latter having co-directed the first movie with David Leitch (who was credited as a producer) and helmed the other three movies on his own. With a little over a week to go until John Wick: Chapter 4’s wide release, Reeves and Stahelski stopped by the movie’s surprise screening at SXSW, where they confirmed that John Wick himself will indeed appear in Ballerina, which was originally reported last November, although it’ll only be a cameo, not a supporting role. As for why they made John Wick 4, Reeves simply said this to the crowd (via Deadline):
For him to get his freedom in a way, that was the reason to tell the story.
When we left off with John Wick at the end of Chapter 3: Parabellum, he’d just fallen off the roof of The Continental after being shot by Ian McShane’s Winston, although it was soon clear that the hotel manager didn’t intend to actually kill the title assassin. John was then retrieved and brought to Laurence Fishburne’s Bowery King, who survived being slashed seven times and went into hiding underground. With John just as angry towards the High Table as Bowery King, these two are ready to wage war on the crime council. Because like Keanu Reeves said, John has to fight for his freedom, and they’re the only thing standing in his way.
New John Wick: Chapter 4 Trailer Teases Keanu Reeves' Huge Bodycount, Introduces A New Canine Friend
Along with Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne and Lance Reddick (who plays Charon) all returning, the John Wick: Chapter 4 cast includes new faces like Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada and Rina Sawayama, among others. Along with Chad Stahelski sitting back in the director’s chair, the movie was written by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch. John Wick: Chapter 4 has already received a lot of positive reviews, including from CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg, who gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
As for Ballerina, which is set between the events of the third and fourth John Wick movies, it’ll follow Ana de Armas’ Rooney seeking revenge on the people who murdered her family. In addition to Keanu Reeves cameoing, Ballerina’s cast also features Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston reprising their John Wick characters, and Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, and Catalina Sandino Moren have been added in undisclosed roles. Len Wiseman is directing the spinoff, and Shay Hatten wrote the script with Emerald Fennell.
John Wick: Chapter 4 arrives in theaters on March 24, and we’ll let you know when Ballerina is slotted into the theatrical calendar. If you’d like to view the first three John Wick movies ahead of the next installment, they can be streamed with a Peacock subscription.
