How Ballerina Compares to John Wick, According to Ana de Armas

Ballerina may be set in the same criminal underworld as John Wick, but its hero is very different, according to star Ana de Armas. She plays the assassin Eve Macarro in the spinoff film, which hits theaters on June 6, 2025. In a new interview with Collider, she explained what sets her character apart from Keanu Reeves’ melancholy Baba Yaga.

De Armas said that she tried to allow the action and choreography provide the continuity for the franchise while looking for ways to distinguish her character narratively. She said: “I think there are some trademarks in the style of the fights in John Wick, and things that he does that are very particular to him. But because in this movie we’re seeing through Eve’s eyes the background of that training that John had, and how these assassins and ballerinas, how these people become these assassins, there are some little details that are the same, but Eve Macarro is Eve Macarro. She’s not John Wick.”

That’s not to say that Macarro and Wick have identical fighting styles. De Armas said: “Through the training process and rehearsals, we kind of built these fights and tailored them to the things that I would do best. I was really good at kicking, and also because I’m a ‘ballerina,’ I’m supposed to be good at kicking; I was really good at close fights, like with knives and things like that.”

The process also helped de Armas find the character’s voice and identity as well. She said: “Little by little, I was trying to get to know myself in this kind of world, and then the stunt team, the professionals, were seeing, also, the best things I could do. So, we found my own style along the way.”

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is set between John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. It’s about a young woman training in the same “Ruska Roma” assassin tradition as John Wick in order to seek revenge for the death of her father. Reeves is expected to make an appearance as Wick, along with Ian McShane as the owner of the Continental Hotel Winston Scott and Lance Reddick as the concierge, Charon. Reddick passed away last March, so this will be his final appearance as Charon and his final film appearance overall.

Right now, Ballerina is the only movie we’re guaranteed to see in the John Wick franchise. Reeves himself recently cast doubt on the potential for a Chapter 5 at all, and the potential spinoff about Caine as well as the untitled prequel that have been reported on are still in development, with no guarantee that they’ll go into production. There is also another TV spinoff called John Wick: Under the High Table which is currently in pre-production and searching for a streaming home.

Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2025. The first three movies in the franchise are currently streaming on fuboTV, while the fourth is streaming on Starz. The Continental is streaming on Peacock.