[Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4]
Now that John Wick: Chapter Four is finally out and some of us already know how it ends, it’s inevitable to wonder how the heck the gun-fu master will be featured in the next installment of the John Wick universe, Ballerina. Of course, the possibility that the Ana De Armas-led entry was a sort of prequel always existed, but now Keanu Reeves came forward to say when exactly in the timeline Ballerina fits—which also explains how Wick will be alive to take part in the story.
The interesting part is that Ballerina doesn’t happen too early in the franchise. This is great news for fans because it suggests that the John Wick story will not be retold from the beginning—frequently a recipe for disaster when it comes to plot holes. In a previous interview, Ballerina writer Shay Hatten teased that the movie will cover the origins of Baba Yaga. Now, in an interview with Collider, Reeves told our own Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub that they won’t have to go too far back at all to explore the character’s past:
“I got to wear the suit one more time, which was nice. It's a film that Len Wiseman's directing, Ana de Armas is in it, and they were kind enough to kind of collaborate with Chad and I on the timeline. So it takes place between Chapter Three and Chapter Four, which is nice.”
The John Wick Puzzle Gets Heftier
So, as Reeves reveals, there is a missing piece of the growing John Wick universe that we’ll only discover when Ballerina premieres. As we know by now, the story will center around Rooney (De Armas), a woman who is seeking vengeance for the death of her family. In the John Wick universe, anyone could have killed Rooney’s family—even John Wick himself on a mission. We do know that Rooney and Wick will cross paths at some point, but the extent of that encounter will only be revealed to us in the future.
On top of that, we can’t forget that even though the title character may be gone, the John Wick universe is far from over: Aside from Ballerina, a prequel series called The Continental is already in the works, and now that we’ve met another hotel Manager in John Wick: Chapter Four, we’ve got a sense of the possibilities that the series can explore.
Ballerina is being directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld), and the star-studded cast also features Ian McShane, Norman Reedus, Gabriel Byrne, Anjelica Huston, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and the late Lance Reddick.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is in cinemas everywhere. You can check out Keanu Reeves talking to us about the movie's action scenes below: