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‘Ballerina’ is an upcoming spinoff of the ‘John Wick’ series.
It reportedly takes place between the third and fourth movies in the franchise.
Ana De Armas is playing the lead role of Rooney.
The John Wick movies are jam-packed with memorable characters, and one of the most well-received by fans so far has been ballerina assassin Rooney. After the character made her debut in John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum, Rooney is going to get her own spinoff film in 2024, fittingly titled Ballerina. The movie will mark the debut for critically-acclaimed actress Ana De Armas and is sure to be a hit with fans of the original series, giving her character much more backstory. It’s not the only spinoff in the works. A TV series called The Continental is also expected to debut in the near future, as well as John Wick 5.
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HollywoodLife has compiled all the details you need to know about the upcoming movie, including what to expect before it hits the big screen in 2024. Keep reading to learn more about the Ana De Armas-starring film.
Ana will star as Rooney in the upcoming action movie. (Shutterstock)
‘Ballerina’ Release Date
Ballerina has been a project that’s long been in development, since 2017. It was originally written as it’s own film, before becoming part of the John Wick series. While it’s been a work in progress for about six years, Lionsgate announced that it’ll finally hit theaters on June 7, 2024, according to Variety.
Cast & Crew
While the movie will feature some fresh faces, many of the cast members of Ballerina will be very familiar to diehard fans of John Wick. Of course, Keanu Reeves is expected to make an appearance as the Baba Yaga himself. Anjelica Huston’s “The Director” is expected to play prominently in the film. Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick are also expected to appear as their characters Winston Scott and Charon, respectively. The movie will be one of Lance’s final posthumous film roles, after his death from heart disease in March 2023.
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As you could probably guess, Ana de Armas will take on the title role of Rooney, but it’s actually her debut in the John Wick franchise. The ballerina assassin had previously appeared in the third John Wick film, but the character was played by ballerina Unity Phelan.
Ana is making her ‘John Wick’ debut in the spinoff film. (Shutterstock)
Besides Ana, there are a few more newcomers whose roles have not been divulged just yet! Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Gabriel Byrne all have been cast in the film, but their characters have not yet been revealed, per IMDb.
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Behind the camera, Len Wiseman is set to direct. He’s previously served as producer on major blockbusters like Total Recall and a number of the Underworld films. He also directed the first Underworld in 2003 and a few different episodes of TV. As a writer, he created the TV series Sleepy Hollow and the Underworld series.
The script was originally written by Shay Hatten, who also wrote John Wick: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. Some of his other credits include the action comedy Day Shift and Army of Thieves, which was co-written with Zack Snyder.
Plot
While there are still many details of the plot to Ballerina that are expected to be released, the basic story is that a female assassin sets out to get revenge on the people who killed her family members. It also reportedly takes place between the third and fourth John Wick films. The new movie is expected to give some new details about the mysterious Ruska Roma family, which John was raised in and trained to become an assassin.
While many details are sparse, Keanu revealed that the movie will follow a woman seeking “revenge” in an appearance at Comic-Con in 2022. “Someone killed her father. Who could that be? And so it’s her journey for actually understanding her past. She lost her father at a young age, and she doesn’t really know what happened. Only that someone came into the house and killed her father, who had a tattoo. And as we know in John Wick, if you have a tattoo, something’s going on,” he said, per Collider.
The movie reportedly takes place between ‘John Wick 3’ and ‘4.’ (Shutterstock)
Shay also revealed that the new movie will also shed light on some details from John Wick’s past in a March 2023 interview with Screen Rant. “I think in Ballerina you’ll get to see some of the hints of what John experienced during his origins in that place, but through the eyes of a different character. It still solves some of the answers of Wick, just through the eyes of a new character,” the screenwriter said.
Behind The Scenes
As mentioned above, the script was originally written as its own film, before retro-fitted for John Wick. Lionsgate purchased the project in July 2017, per The Hollywood Reporter. Len was brought on to direct in October 2019, per Deadline. After it was bought, some breadcrumbs were placed in the third John Wick movie. Shay opened up about some of the original details in his spec in the above-mentioned Screen Rant interview. “The original script was set into Swiss Alps, which is territory that the John Wick movies have not touched. So, I think in a great way, it meant that we could kind of stick to the original story of that script from Ballerina without stepping on the toes of John Wick,” he said.
While Unity Phelan originated the role in John Wick 3, Ana was announced as the leading lady for the movie in a CinemaCon panel in April 2022, per Comic Book. It was also announced that Marco Beltrami (who scored Scream, A Quiet Place, and more) was teaming up with Anna Drubich (who scored Barbarian and more) to compose the film’s music, per Film Music Reporter.
The movie reportedly started filming in Prague in November 2022, according to The Prague Reporter. The film is reportedly in post-production, according to IMDb.
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