John Wick Spinoff Starring Ana de Armas Is About To Begin Production

John Wick: Chapter 4 is finally hitting theatres next year, but it's not the only project in the evergrowing franchise to look forward to. Starz is working on The Continental, a prequel set decades before the original films, and Lionsgate has a Ballerina feature in development. The movie will be based on the group led by Anjelica Huston's character in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Knives Out and No Time To Die star Ana de Armas would be starring in the project which has tapped Oscar-winning writer Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) to help with the script. Now, IndieWire is reporting that the project is set to go into production next week. 

"It was really important for me to hire a female writer, because to that point when I got involved in the project, it was only the director, Len Wiseman, and another guy. And I was like, 'That's not going to work.' So I interviewed, like, five or six female writers. We hired Emerald Fennell, which I was so proud of," de Armas previously shared with Elle. John Wick director Chad Stahelski is stepping aside for the Ballerina feature, which will be helmed by Len Wiseman. However, Stahelski will serve as an executive producer on the project to make sure it stays in line with the story that was previously established in his films.

When Is John Wick: Chapter 4 Being Released?

The wait for the fourth John Wick movie has been a long one thanks to the pandemic, but the Keanu Reeves film is finally hitting theatres on March 24, 2023. The movie will feature some exciting new additions to the cast, including Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Bill Skarsgård (It and It Chapter Two) as well as Japanese-British pop star Rina Sawayama. During a recent interview with Variety, Sawayama talked about working with Reeves and had nothing but praise for the iconic star.

"I really love the process of doing something I've never done – learning to read scripts and getting into a character. But I don't know if I'll ever get used to seeing myself onscreen in that way, to be honest – it's a very different vibe to 'I need to look hot in my music video.' The camera gets so close you can basically see your pulse, it's crazy, crazy close. I watched a preview and I freaked out because it was so f*cking weird."

Sawayama added, "But Keanu was amazing, and exactly what you think he'd be like, so chill. But he looked after me in loads of different ways, very much behind the scenes – not telling me that he was doing something for me, but making sure that it was done. Although him being one of the executive producers means that he had a hand in casting me, so that was really crazy to comprehend."

Stay tuned for more updates about the John Wick franchise.