John Wick director Chad Stahelski has addressed those Ballerina reshoots, and talked about about the anime and other spin-offs on the way.
For a series that ostensibly ended with 2023’s John Wick: Chapter 4, the world of ice-cold assassins, ostentatious currency and outstanding kevlar tailoring is in surprisingly rude health. Franchise star Keanu Reeves is taking a break to pursue other projects, but Lionsgate has hired series director, Chad Stahelski to oversee a number of other projects to keep the franchise running.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Stahelski offered up something akin to a ‘State Of The Wickiverse’ address, going through the various spin-off projects in the works. First up is Ballerina, the action spin-off starring Ana de Armas which has been delayed by a full year following reports about the number of reshoots. Some reports have said that Stahelski replaced director Len Wiseman during this process.
Stahelski has played down such stories, saying that he and Keanu Reeves simply came in to “give it a little shine together with Len and what he had already done.” Stahelski adds that not much was altered – just a few weeks of extra shooting during which they “changed some of the action sequences and made up for some time that Len just didn’t have.”
Read more: Ballerina, and the best and worst of movie reshoots
Stahelski talked a little more about some of the reasons for the Ballerina reshoots, including taking the opportunity to reshoot an entire sequence in Austria that was significantly impacted by extreme weather the first time around.
Stahelski also offered a few updates on the wider world of John Wick, including a little detail on a planned anime feature film, which sounds like it will delve into one of the most discussed moments of John Wick’s past: the ‘impossible task’ that Reeves’ assassin completes to earn his freedom from the high table. “It’s meant to be fun,” says Stahelski. “Some of the prequels and sequels that you see in other franchises, we’re not meant to be built that way. We just want to have fun. We want to have fun with the Wick world, but we’ve already capped it on one end [with John Wick: Chapter 4], so let’s go back and use a different medium.”
Finally, Stahelski also confirmed that the Under The High Table TV series is definitely on the way, while the spin-off film starring Donnie Yen’s character is currently being written. We didn’t get any updates on the latest John Wick videogame said to be in development, but there’s 2019’s rather fun John Wick Hex to tide us over in that regard. We’ll bring you more on the various Wick projects as we hear more.