Keanu Reeves Officially Returns for New John Wick Prequel

John Wick is back…but maybe not in the way you might have expected. Keanu Reeves will return as cinema’s deadliest assassin in a new prequel film detailing a key moment in his life before his movie franchise began. And don’t worry about having to de-age Keanu with CG, because that won’t be necessary.

John Wick exploded into theaters in 2014, vaulting star Reeves into the upper echelons of action stardom. Reeves starred as the retired assassin of the title, who returned to his old ways when his dog, the last gift from his late wife, was callously killed by the upstart heir to a criminal empire. After killing his way to the top, Wick soon found himself entrapped in the assassin life once more in a series of sequels, hunted by every other hitman and bounty hunter on Earth before seemingly going to his final rest in 2022’s John Wick: Chapter 4. However, he still managed to find time to appear in the spin-off movie Ballerina, set before that film, in which he faced off with the title character, played by Ana de Armas.

Lionsgate has greenlit an animated John Wick movie, in which Reeves will reprise his role as the iconic assassin. But don’t expect to find out how (or if) Wick survived his apparent demise at the conclusion of John Wick 4. The movie will be a prequel that will explore Wick’s life before he gave up the assassin life and retired, as we first met him in the original John Wick. It will detail how he accomplished the so-called ‘Impossible Task” that allowed him to escape the all-consuming criminal underworld and retire to be with his beloved wife, Helen. The film is set to be directed by Shannon Tindle (Ultraman: Rising), from a script by Ryan and Kaz Firpo (Eternals). Reeves and Chad Stahelski, who directed all four previous Wick movies, will executive produce with Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee.