Ballerina: All We Know About The Ana De Armas John Wick Spinoff
Ballerina will star Ana de Armas and is an addition to the John Wick franchise of movies.
The John Wick universe continues to expand with Ballerina as another of the upcoming projects. When it was released in 2014, John Wick became an instant thriller classic, showcasing the talents of lead actor Keanu Reeves. A surprise box office smash at the time, the film has spawned several sequels that have costarred A-list names like Anjelica Huston and Halle Berry.
The franchise has been built upon the idea of a former assassin revenge killing those who killed his dog to the tune of $587 million in box office receipts to date.
The John Wick franchise will soon grow to include a spin-off television show for Peacock and a new film called Ballerina. The latter is a movie starring Ana De Armas that will connect events and characters from the shared John Wick universe.
A high-profile entry into a growing franchise like this doesn’t come around often, and audiences are expectedly curious as to what this new movie will be about.
Here is all we know about Ana De Armas’s John Wick spin-off project, Ballerina.
SEVERAL JOHN WICK PROJECTS ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY IN PRODUCTION
Fresh off of her Academy Award nomination for her work in the Netflix film Blonde, Cuban actor Ana de Armas has signed on to play the lead role in the John Wick spin-off movie Ballerina. Directed by Len Wiseman of Underworld fame, Ballerina will have a theatrical release. The project began filming in Prague in November 2022, according to The Prague Reporter.
At the same time, the limited series The Continental has been in the works for quite some time. The television show starring Mel Gibson, Colin Woodell, and Peter Greene will present prequel events surrounding the hotel within the franchise. This hotel has been a safe-have for assassins within the John Wick universe, and the new series will premiere on Peacock at some point in 2023.
If either of these new projects weren’t sufficient for audiences to enjoy in the not-so-distant future, the original John Wick is getting a fourth installment added to the franchise. John Wick: Chapter 4 will hit theaters on March 24, 2023, and costars Ian McShane, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, and Bill Skarsgård. The movie was delayed several times by the COVID-19 pandemic and lead star Keanu Reeves’s The Matrix Resurrections scheduling conflicts.
BALLERINA WILL FOLLOW ANA DE ARMAS AS ROONEY
Ballerina will follow the story of ballerina-assassin Rooney (Ana de Armas) as she targets her family’s murderers. The same character appeared in 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, portrayed by real-life ballerina Unity Phelan. In this spin-off, de Armas replaces Phelan, as the character is promoted to lead the film.
Inverse reports that Ana de Armas will step into the protagonist position as a ballerina avenging her father’s death from a tattooed man. Her father’s demise occurred when she was a young child, and the character will put together clues as to who the murderer could be.
The aforementioned director Len Wiseman will helm Ballerina from a script by John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum co-writer Shay Hatten and Promising Young Woman screenwriter Emerald Fennell.
According to Elle, Ana de Armas specifically wanted a woman involved in crafting the premise for Ballerina and worked with the producers to handpick Fennell due to her Academy Award-winning work on Promising Young Woman.
THE CAST OF BALLERINA WILL INCLUDE KEANU REEVES AS JOHN WICK AND OTHERS FROM THE FRANCHISE
Primarily due to Lionsgate’s intentions to expand the John Wick universe but keep the stories interwoven within one another, it was decided that the franchise’s spin-offs would include several notable names from the established John Wick series of films.
In Ballerina, Ana de Armas will be joined by a slew of essential characters from the first three installments of the John Wick franchise, including Keanu Reeves reprising his titular role as John Wick.
The professional hitman character will be joined by some familiar faces, like The Continental Hotel owner Winston Scott (Ian McShane), the hotel’s concierge Charon (Lance Reddick), and “The Director” (Anjelica Huston).
It has yet to be apparent how these cast members will assimilate within Ballerina and how their characters’ trajectories will affect John Wick: Chapter 4.
With Keanu Reeves returning for another round of John Wick’s madness, it should be assumed that the criminal underworld element will play a significant role in Ballerina and possibly detail more of Wick’s covert past.
Ana de Armas confirmed on an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that her character will have an elaborate fight scene against John Wick himself.
Additional casting announcements have been made in recent months to include Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus. However, these cast inclusions are so far for undisclosed roles.
THERE IS NO RELEASE DATE FOR BALLERINA BUT IT IS EXPECTED IN 2024
Unlike John Wick: Chapter 4, which has been confirmed to premiere in theaters in March 2023, and The Continental eyeing a debut on Peacock this year, Ballerina is still in the filming stage.
No release date information has been provided for the spin-off vehicle, although it will most likely release in theaters. Once filming is complete, it is expected that Ballerina might premiere later this year or towards the beginning of 2024.
ANA DE ARMAS IS ON A MISSION TO BECOME THE NEXT BIG ACTION STAR
Outside of her acclaimed work as a fictionalized version of Marilyn Monroe in Blonde, Ana de Armas has cultivated a resume of performances that rival any leading action star. Coming into the John Wick franchise is no easy feat, but de Armas appears poised to take on the lead role in a spin-off tailored to her acting chops.
Ana de Armas will star in Ballerina after proving to global audiences she has what it takes to portray skilled spies and assassins. Alongside heavy-weight actors like Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, de Armas starred in 2022’s The Gray Man for Netflix after playing a spy opposite James Bond actor Daniel Craig in 2021’s No Time to Die.
After filming on Ballerina concludes soon, Ana de Armas will be hard at work promoting the new romantic action-adventure movie Ghosted. Directed by Rocketman helmer Dexter Fletcher, Ghosted stars de Armas alongside Adrien Brody, Tim Blake Nelson, Amy Sedaris, and frequent collaborator Chris Evans. Ghosted will release on the streaming platform AppleTV+ sometime in April 2023.
