A John Wick prequel anime film has been announced, per franchise co-creator Chad Stahelski – see what he had to say below.
In a new chat with The Hollywood Reporter, Stahelski – who co-created the John Wick franchise, and has directed all four mainline films to date – confirmed that a prequel film is in the works, though it won’t be a live-action movie and will instead take on the form of anime.
According to Stahelski, the mainline franchise, which stars Keanu Reeves as the titular character, won’t spawn anymore sequels as Wick’s journey is “a complete story”. However, the franchise will continue with prequels and spin-offs.
One prequel in the works is an anime film: “Right now, we’re knee-deep in development on a feature anime about John Wick. It’s a prequel to the movies, which is awesome. It’s fun that it’s in a different medium.”
Stahelski continued: “It’s meant to be fun. 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.
“To keep churning out episodes of John Wick’s adventures seems a little false to us, but to explore different aspects of the world and different aspects of John Wick before the films and through a different medium, whether it’s anime or TV, that feels fun,” he explained.
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“We can be a little bit more crazy and nutty in the anime, and we can be a lot more explicit in our storytelling and world building on the TV show [Under The High Table]. So those are exciting to us without seeming repetitive, and that’s where we’re putting our energies right now.”
It is currently unclear with Keanu Reeves will return to lend his voice to the prequel anime film.
In a four-star review of John Wick: Chapter 4 for NME, Jesse Hassenger wrote: “Chapter 4 doesn’t exude the wheel-spinning cynicism of a forever franchise. Stahelski may traffic in excess, but at least he understands it: how choreography, performance and style can make over-the-top spectacle cohere into pleasurably overwhelming action fizz, rather than congealing into a sweaty special effects overload. He also gets that after 169 minutes, some degree of closure is appreciated. There may well be a Chapter 5 but Chapter 4 still feels like a movie giving its all.”
Elsewhere, the first trailer for Ballerina, a John Wick spin-off film, was recently shared. The upcoming film stars Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a ballerina who is trained to be an assassin in hopes of avenging the death of her family. It is due to hit cinemas in the UK on June 6, 2025. Reeves will reprise his role for the film, which is set between the events of John Wick 3 and 4.
A sequel TV series for the franchise has also been announced, and will be produced by Keanu Reeves, although the actor won’t star in the show.