Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Ballerina, casting, john wick, lionsgate

Ballerina: Gabriel Byrne Is The Latest To Join The John Wick Spinoff

2x Primetime Emmy nominated and Golden Globe winner Gabriel Byrne is the latest to join the cast of the John Wick spinoff film, Ballerina.

The cast for the John Wick spinoff Ballerina continues to grow. After securing some franchise mainstays like Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick, we see some new people joining the cast. We already know that Ana de Armas is the star and has been attached to this feature from the beginning. However, Norman Reedus recently joined the cast as a new player to this world, to the delight of Walking Dead fans everywhere, along with Oscar-nominated actress Catalina Sandino Moreno. Now we have another new face to this franchise, and, according to Deadline, it is two-time Primetime Emmy nominated and Golden Globe winner Gabriel Byrne. The John Wick movies have become quite the franchise for big names looking for something big to do that is an original IP, so they have easily been pulling in some top-tier talent.

Producer Basil Iwanyk said: "For decades, Gabriel's mysterious and enigmatic presence has enriched dozens of films. You can never quite be sure what he's thinking, and that's perfect for this world."

John Wick: From Indie Darling To Franchise Juggernaut

It's still a little amazing that John Wick, the action movie in 2014 where the only real notable thing about it was that they managed to snag Reeves as its leading man, has turned into the franchise juggernaut it is today. That is what happens when you have good people working on a film from the beginning because it would have been easy for John Wick to fade into obscurity with a ton of other disposable action movies. However, the creative team of director Chad Stahelski and screenwriter Derek Kolstad took the time to build a fascinating world around that action movie. The world of John Wick is the thing that everyone fell in love with on top of the fact that Reeves is the best at this.

So it wasn't surprising that a sequel was greenlit, and it was even less surprising that in 2017 it was announced that a spinoff film and television shows were in the works. The Continental will focus on the hotel that plays a central part in the assassin world that John Wick moves in, and Ballerina will be something different. Len Wiseman was brought on to direct with Wiseman & Shay Hatten and Emerald Fennell working on the screenplay, and Hatten also has a story credit. We still don't know much about the film, and it doesn't have a release date, but filming has begun. So maybe late 2023 to mid-2024, depending on how quickly they can finish shooting and wrap up post-production. Now that they are shooting, maybe we will learn more about the plot of this mysterious film as well.

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