Earlier this month, after over a year of delays, No Time to Die finally opened, and among its most notable elements was Daniel Craig reuniting with his Knives Out costar Ana de Armas, as his James Bond required help from her character, CIA agent Paloma. De Armas will keep her action run going in the near future with Netflix’s The Gray Man, and today brings word that she’s now being looked at to lead the John Wick spinoff.
It was announced back in 2017 that a spinoff to the Keanu Reeves-led action franchise titled Ballerina was in development, and last year, it was rumored that Kick-Ass’ Chloë Grace Moretz was being looked at to play the main character. Evidently things didn’t work out with her though, because Deadline reports that Ana de Armas is in talks with to play the lead role in the John Wick spinoff. Assuming she signs a deal, this will mark another big step towards this project becoming a reality.
Ballerina will follow a young woman raised to be an assassin who seeks revenge on the people who killed her family. The premise was briefly teased in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum when Keanu Reeves’ title character visited Angelica Huston’s The Director, who raised John within the Ruska Roma crime syndicate back when he was known as Jardani Jovonovich. Among the things we saw during our peek at The Director’s operation was girls practicing ballet as part of their assassin training.
It’s unclear if Keanu Reeves or Angelica Huston will appear in Ballerina, although Deadline’s article says “there is a hope” that they can at least cameo. Either way, leading this John Wick spinoff would be another solid addition to Ana de Armas’ filmography. Along with the previously-mentioned The Gray Man, which sees her appearing as Dani Miranda opposite Ryan Gosling’s Court Gentry and Chris Evans’ Lloyd Hansen, de Armas’ other upcoming features include Blonde (where she plays Marilyn Monroe) and Deep Water.
Behind the scenes, John Wick: Chapter 3 and Army of the Dead’s Shay Hatten wrote the Ballerina script, and in 2019, Underworld’s Len Wiseman was hired to direct the project. Along with Ballerina making progress, the main John Wick film series will continue next year with John Wick: Chapter 4, and Chapter 5 has also been greenlit. The John Wick world is also expanding with Starz’s The Continental, a limited series set in the 1970s that stars Colin Woodell as Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the movies) and Mel Gibson in an undisclosed role, among others.
While we wait for more updates on Ballerina’s progress, including confirmation of whether or not Ana de Armas will indeed star in it, look through our 2022 release schedule to learn about the movies arriving next year, which includes John Wick: Chapter 4 being slated for May 27.
