Emmy-nominated actor Ian McShane has appeared in all four of the John Wick action movies as the character Winston. He is also appearing in the upcoming spin-off movie Ballerina, which is set between John Wick: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 and follows a young female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family — as Wick has against those who have done him wrong. Ana de Armas plays the assassin, who is “trained in the traditions of the Ruska Roma.”
Keanu Reeves is going to appear in the film, and when previously talking about it, he said: “It’s a cool story. Len Wiseman has a vision, but is also embracing, affectionately, the world of John Wick. Ian McShane is in it as Winston.”
We haven’t heard a whole lot more about the movie since finding out it will be hitting theaters this summer, but McShane recently chatted a bit about the film with Collider, first talking about Reeves’s involvement as the character John Wick, saying:
“This one is set in between John Wick 3 and John Wick 4, because Keanu is in it, too. You didn’t want to set it after John Wick 4, because then you’d have social media saying, ‘Oh, so he’s still alive! What’s he going to do next time? Is there a John Wick 5?!’ This way, you can still keep up the pretense that there might not be a John Wick 5.”
He went on:
“This time we’re protecting Ana de Armas, and I had my great friend, Mr. Lance Reddick. God bless you, Lance — he passed away last year. Lance and I bring our usual protection towards Ms. de Armas. And [director] Len [Wiseman] I found a delight to work for. Again, we worked out the script beforehand, so there was no wasted time.”
He also revealed that Gabriel Byrne will be playing the main villain in the film, and talked about his enjoyment in working on the film, stating:
“They tend to make me sound a bit like an English dictionary sometimes on John Wick. They’re great writers — Michael [Finch] and Shay [Hatten] on those. We go through it, I check with them, and we cut it down to whatever. Len had conferred with Chad [Stahelski], so I think there’s a continuity from the other Wick movies. So it should be very enjoyable. [Ana] was lovely to work with. I think Gabriel Byrne plays the chief villain, so there’s a good actor for you.”
We are just months away now from the film’s release. Are you looking forward to it? Ballerina will be released in theaters on June 7, 2024.
