How John Wick Director Chad Stahelski Really Felt About Keanu Reeves’ Ballerina Appearance

Director Len Wiseman’s 2025 action film Ballerina, marketed as “from the world of John Wick: Ballerina,” stars Ana de Armas as Eve Macro, a super-powered assassin raised in a strange and ultra-violent school of assassins. Given that Ballerina is set in the same continuity as the John Wick films, its mythology is painfully complex and almost incomprehensible. The John Wick movies take place in a world where a quarter of Earth’s population appears to belong to one assassin’s guild or another, and they’re all in a constant state of war. It also operates a Byzantine system of rewards, favors, and blood libel, with entire industries springing up to supply killers with clothing, weapons, education, and housing.

The four John Wick films that preceded Ballerina – all directed by actor Chad Stahelski – showcased the series’ assassin lore in excruciating detail, while also presenting audiences with some of the most thrilling action films in many years. “Ballerina” itself is a spin-off film about Ruska Roma, a Russian crime syndicate that uses the ballet school as its front. Eve Macro is a young woman raised in Rusca Roma, having learned to fight and kill efficiently in part through ballet practice. Early in the film, Eve sees John Wick himself (Keanu Reeves) passing through the school, and they have a brief interaction. This scene overlaps with some of the events of “John Wick: Chapter Two.”

That was enough to prove that John Wick was part of this world, but the creators of “Ballerina” took it a step further towards the end of the film. In fact, the climax of the film is John showing up and engaging in a shootout with Eve, as well as an entire snowy village of Bad Guys. As a result, John ends up playing a major role in the third act of the film.

Speaking in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stahelski was candid about John Wick’s inclusion in Ballerina. Stahelski admitted that the character was not a large part of early script drafts for the film. Instead, his role was eventually expanded to reinforce the film’s connection to the larger John Wick property.

Stahelski also admitted that he didn’t like the idea of ​​including John Wick in the Ballerina movie. It’s worth noting that John Wick dies – somewhat poetically – at the end of 2023 in “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Since then, the hotel’s creative directors have worked hard to find ways to keep the John Wick franchise going without its main character. “Ballerina” came after the release of “The Continental” (a TV show that premiered in 2023) and was supposed to revolve around a young player from “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” (originally played by Unity Phelan) going on her own adventures. However, John Wick himself wasn’t supposed to be a major part of it.

In the end, though, Stahelski reluctantly agreed to bring John into the mix, realizing that the “ballerina” needed, essentially, support. The series had to stay big, so including Reeves was a good way to do that. As Stalski said:

“This wasn’t in the original script. To be honest, I was kind of against it. But I see the benefit, and we wanted to help.” [Len Wiseman]. “We just opened”john wick 4, And it was huge. He cannot return to the first form.’John Wick And take an $18 million independent thing and try to build it. To stay in the same game, you have to give him a fighting chance. And the easiest way to convey that — at least, from the studio’s perspective — was to get Wick involved.Ballerina On a special schedule.”

The “special timeline” comment was meant to cover up any discrepancies between “Ballerina” and the existing “John Wick” films, which don’t necessarily coincide perfectly. It’s easier to say that this is a free-form story with the same characters, mythology and physics as “John Wick,” but they don’t directly overlap. One could even call it quasi-legal, if one wants a definition.

Of course, now that John Wick is appearing in “Ballerina,” what does that mean for the other planned “John Wick” spin-offs? As of this writing, Lionsgate is working on a spin-off film about Ken, the blind assassin played by Donnie Yen in “John Wick: Chapter 4” (with Yen and Rina Sawayama set to reprise their roles from “Chapter 4” in the film). Stahelski has officially stated that John Wick will definitely not be a part of this particular project, explaining:

“The Donnie Yen spin-off doesn’t have John Wick. It has Donnie Yen and is an ode to kung fu movies. So”John Wick 1′ The film was about Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin, and it was about Chow Yun Fat, John Woo, and Wong Kar-wai. So, I think it’s a little easier to get it to the masses because it’s in a sub-genre of what we like.”

In case you need a refresher, Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin are best known for playing violent, revenge-seeking characters in “Death Wish” and “Point Blank,” respectively. Likewise, actor Chow Yun-fat and director John Woo made several popular action films together in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As for Won Kar-wai, he is one of the most praised film directors working today, known for his stunning cinematography and romantic tales such as “In the Mood for Love.” All parties involved seem to admire these directors and aim to make something in their style.

Other planned “John Wick” projects include an animated prequel and (in a way) “John Wick: Chapter 5,” which will apparently circumvent John’s death in the fourth mainline film. He may have died, but he got better. Then again, if “special schedules” were allowed, maybe anything would be okay.