The long-awaited announcement was finally made by Lionsgate this morning at its official panel at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Keanu Reeves will play baba Yaga again in john Wick 5, according to Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chief Adam Fogelson, who confirmed weeks ago that the movie was in development. Veteran director Chad Stahelski will direct the fifth sequel. In addition, Lionsgate is bringing back Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee from Thunder Road, who will co-produce the movie with Reeves and Stahelski. The studio declined to provide a possible release date, and plot specifics and further casting are being kept under wraps.
Since the summer of 2023, when john Wick: Chapter 4 was released in theaters, the development of john Wick 5 has been a wild ride. The fifth installment remained strangely quiet for a time, and when asked if he would be interested in playing john Wick again, star Keanu Reeves provided a number of disheartening updates. Reeves mentioned his age and expressed uncertainty about his knees' ability to play john Wick again during the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 press tour.
In response to a recent question about whether he will reprise his role as john Wick, Reeves only stated, "He died." As today's release confirms, even though the baba Yaga appears to die at the end of john Wick: Chapter 4, Reeves may still return—either through a possible resurrection or a project that takes place before the events of john Wick: Chapter 4.
John Wick fans had enough to be thrilled about even before it was officially announced that john Wick 5 was in development. The next movie in the series is Ballerina, a spin-off starring Ana de Armas in which Reeves will play john Wick for a brief second time. Norman Reedus, a veteran of The Walking Dead, will also return to his roles as Charon and Winston, respectively, as will Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick. A spin-off based on Donnie Yen's Caine is also being developed by Lionsgate. Lionsgate announced at CinemaCon that Yen is in talks to direct the movie, which was exclusively reported by Collider not long ago.
