Posted in: Lionsgate, Movies | Tagged: Ballerina, From The World of John Wick: Ballerina, ian mcshane

Ballerina: Ian McShane On Winston's Enigmatic Connection To Eve

Ian McShane's Winston has been a staple of the John Wick universe, and it turns out he knows Eve from Ballerina and has been "keeping tabs" on her.

The world of John Wick is expanding on the big screen this year with Ballerina. While the movie focuses primarily on a new character, Eve, played by Ana de Armas, we will also see some familiar faces in the film. The trailer has shown off some of them already, including the always-awesome Keanu Reeves, who appears as John Wick because of where Ballerina takes place in the timeline, and Ian McShane as Winston. Winston has been around for as long as the Wick franchise has been around. As the movies continued and the world continued to expand, we learned more about them while also learning nothing about him. We had a show dedicated to his character, but it's unclear if that is even considered canon at this point or if canon even matters in this franchise. Lionsgate had the movie turn up to CCXP, and Collider got to speak to the cast. McShane spilled some beans and revealed that Winston has connections to Eve in multiple ways.

"Well, I've met her before. Also, I knew her mother and father, as we say," McShane said. "I know secrets about her that she will try to find out later on. Obviously, I kept tabs on her over the years since she's been under the ballet tutelage of the character of Anjelica Huston. But Winston, you still don't know who he is, which is kind of nice. He's the more enigmatic character."

McShane talked about the end of the movie without giving anything away, saying, "At the end of the movie — I'm not giving anything away — you still don't know more about the relationship. All I can say is that he admires her. I mean, a ballerina and an assassin? That's a lethal combination. He tries to warn her, but of course, she ignores him completely. But it'll be interesting. She is the Baby Yaga; John Wick is the Baba Yaga."

The Baby Yaga thing is also dropped in the special look we got from CCXP, so that's cute. However, McShane's statements also reveal just how small of a role he will probably play in this film. The best idea for  Ballerina and any other John Wick spin-off is to bring in some familiar faces like McShane, Reeves, or some of the other familiar faces of the franchise (RIP Lance Reddick), have them turn up for a cool moment or two, and then off they go. Fans get that hint of interconnectivity and cinematic worldbuilding that everyone loves these days, and you don't have to destroy Reeves's knees because he's only on set for a scene or two.

Ballerina Is The First Big Screen Spin-Off Of John Wick

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 spin-off film and television show were in the works. The Continental focused 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. Hatten also has a story credit. The cast includes de Armas and returning John Wick players Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Lance Reddick. We also have some new faces, including Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Gabriel Byrne. A brief summary has been released, "Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma." From The World of John Wick: Ballerina is set to be released on June 6, 2025.

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