‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina’ director reveals plans for the movie’s sequel

Director Len Wiseman has confirmed that a sequel to Ballerina, the recent spinoff from the John Wick franchise, is already being planned. Once the film was released on June 6, Wiseman stated in several interviews that some scenes and characters were added to fit into future films.

The significant news was that Norman Reedus’s character would be expanded, and new aspects of the protagonist Eve Macarro’s background would be explored.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wiseman revealed that Reedus’s role as Daniel Pine was thought out to allow for storytelling in future seasons.

"I cast Norman Reedus because I have plans for him, and I would love to see him come back in a way that he's now kind of indebted to her."

In Ballerina, The Walking Dead’s Reedus debuted as John Wick’s assassin, Daniel Pine, who wanted to safeguard his daughter, Ella (Ava Joyce McCarthy), from entering their world.

Although Daniel only appears in two scenes, one during Eve's (Ana de Armas) attempt to keep Ella safe and the other toward the end when he joins his daughter after being wounded, the director says there is a possibility he could reappear in a follow-up film.

Because of her desire for revenge, Eve eventually rescues young Ella from the Chancellor’s plan to turn her into one of his killers. The filmmaker says:

"I have a little bit of a plan for that, and then also how he's connected, and what his family connection is [to the Chancellor's cult]."

She reunites Ella with Daniel to show their emotional bond, and Wiseman hopes to look at that relationship further.

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Plans for a sequel began before Ballerina’s release

Just before the movie’s release, producer Erica Lee discussed the possibilities of a sequel. In 2023, she mentioned that discussions of a sequel were already taking place.

Anna de Armas was expected to return for the sequel. The early proposals, she said, were “hopeful.” Ballerina could be significant to a broader universe that is connected to the upcoming John Wick 5.

Ballerina is not just a feminine take on John Wick, and that’s what particularly drew Wiseman and de Armas to the story.

"What I was really set on is I would love to do a movie that is actually not a female John Wick," Wiseman says. "She is actually a character that is, in her own right, a complete badass, but a very different story than John Wick."

At the moment, no official confirmation has been made about Ballerina 2, although everything seems to point in that direction.