John Wick Returns in the ‘Ballerina’ Trailer

John Wick seemingly died at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. And since then, Keanu Reeves has dismissed any and all talk about another John Wick sequel. Maybe he’s been doing that because it doesn’t matter if John Wick is dead or not — Lionsgate will still stick him in more movies anyway.

For example, here he is prominently featured in the trailer for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, a spinoff film that nominally stars Ana de Armas as another assassin in the same fictional universe. But the second half of the teaser is mostly about John Wick (Reeves) showing up to fight de Armas’ character. The film explains Wick’s seeming resurrection by setting itself prior to the events of Chapter 4.

You can watch the action-packed trailer below:

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I will say this: In a world where Sony has made a whole bunch of Spider-Man “spinoffs” about characters that have nothing to do with Spider-Man, in which Spider-Man never appears and is often not even mentioned, it’s nice to see a spinoff that feels like an legitimate spinoff. While de Armas did not actually appear in John Wick: Chapter 3, the film that introduced the concept of these killer ballerinas, at least Reeves, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane, and the late Lance Reddick are all on hand to give a sense of continuity to the project.

As a result, you can’t say Ballerina’s not firmly connected to the rest of John Wick. (Plus flamethrower action is certainly a novel concept.) Here is the official synopsis for Ballerina:

Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Ballerina follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is set to finally open in theaters on June 6.