The first proper John Wick spinoff film will arrive next summer, and with it, Ana de Armas is set to take the franchise in a new direction.
Ballerina follows Armas' Eve Macarro, an assassin ballerina who is part of the Ruska Roma, an organization first introduced during John Wick: Chapter 3 (during which this new film's story takes place).
While the movie is set to follow her character in a brand-new story, Keanu Reeves' John Wick will be making an appearance, as confirmed by the trailer.
John Wick Filmmakers Tease Ballerina Spinoff Film
In an interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim, John Wick producer Erica Lee and franchise director John Stahelski teased how the upcoming spinoff movie Ballerina is different from what came before.
Lee revealed that what makes Ballerina different than the mainstay John Wick films is how it follows her character "making her way into the world," as opposed to the original movies that saw John Wick trying to leave it (which he is failing at since Chapter 5 is in development):
"'Ballerina' is really Ana de Armas' character making her way into the world. 'John Wick' is about getting out, and I think Anna's character is about getting in. Just alone it being from the female POV, it's a very different story. The way that Ana created the character, the way that she moves, her action skill set, her background, and all of that really make it a different way."
On Ballerina, Stahelski explained that in the new spinoff, "we get to explore the world and… different paths or characters:"
"We get to explore the world and explore different paths or characters that we just didn't have time for, as well as the narrative of John Wick. You gotta remember 'John Wick' was done one at a time. We didn't have a battle plan. We didn't have the Marvel 10-year plan. We were just going to get through the first one, and then we're done. Yeah, there was no hope of anything. So, every time we finished, when we had to go back to the drawing board and see if we could link it together."
"Ballerina was actually part of a little bit of a plan," the director continued:
"Ballerina was actually part of a little bit of a plan. So, you get to see a different character, a different world, what the Ruska Roma is. I hope you'll pick up little hints of mythology that fill in some of the questions in the first two or three of John Wick's books. And you get to see different characters explore to different ends of the world that we didn't explain... It's another great wrapping to do cool action... If you're a martial arts action genre freak, then hopefully, this will scratch your edge."
Lee also confirmed that "ideally," Ballerina would be the start of a new series of films, adding that they "would love to do more."
As for how much John Wick will show up in the movie, which is confirmed to happen thanks to the trailers, Lee explained that they are "still working on the exact balance of how much he's in the movie:"
"We're still working on the exact balance of how much he's in the movie. The movie is in post-production, so we're still working on it. John Wick is such a seminal character, and I think when he shows up, it's very exciting, and I think audiences will be really happy."
Stahelski further explained how they "spent a lot of time studying other franchises" when it came to how they figured they would expand the John Wick franchise:
"We spent a lot of time studying other franchises. I think the best way to do it is to find these great little pockets of stories we tried to create throughout the world and not worry so much about how they connect with threads. But have these great little characters and pockets. It's coming up with a fantasy, slight, hyperreal, reality-action genre."
Ballerina releases on June 6, 2025.
