According to Deadline, Ana De Armas is currently in talks for the lead role in the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina. If cast in the role, De Armas will play a young female assassin who is on the hunt for the people who killed her family. The character made a brief appearance in John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum when John visited a Russian crime syndicate led by The Director (Anjelica Houston).
Len Wiseman (Underworld) is on board to direct with a script from Shay Hatten, who also wrote John Wick 3 and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. This movie will see Lionsgate working alongside producers Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, and Chad Stahelski. Stahelski co-directed the first John Wick alongside David Leitch and directed both John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum. Stahelski is also set to direct John Wick 4.
The John Wick franchise is still going very strong with both John Wick 4 and John Wick 5 confirmed by Lionsgate. The assassin universe, featuring Keanu Reeves as John Wick, is expanding with the Ballerina spinoff. It’s also not the only spinoff in the works as a Starz TV series called The Continental is coming in 2022.
De Armas’ stardom has been on the rise recently starting with a breakout performance in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out. She showed off her power as an action star in the recent James Bond film, No Time To Die. De Armas is currently in post-production in Netflix’s Blonde, a Marilyn Monroe biopic, and Netflix’s The Gray Man, a big-budget action film directed by the Russo Brothers.
It’s unclear whether Reeves or Houston will be possibly joining De Armas in this film but they could appear in cameo roles. Reeves is currently shooting John Wick 4 and he is reprising his role as Neo in The Matrix Resurrections on Dec. 22. Ballerina currently doesn’t have a release date yet as new details are still emerging about this spinoff.
