Last year, Ana de Armas turned a lot of heads with her charismatic portrayal of a CIA agent named Paloma in No Time To Die. In just a few minutes of screen time, de Armas stole the show as Paloma and more than held her own while fighting alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Now, de Armas may be getting an action franchise of her own. At CinemaCon, Lionsgate confirmed that the actress will star in Ballerina, a spinoff from the John Wick films.
De Armas will play a young assassin who wants to avenge the murders of her family. The groundwork for the spinoff occurred in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, when John revisited his former crime syndicate, the Ruska Roma. While conferring with the Director (Anjelica Huston), John witnessed the order of ballerinas who are trained to become killers.
Some of de Armas’ previous roles include Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out, The Informer, Wasp Network, and The Night Clerk. Armas also has a busy slate of upcoming streaming films, with the Marilyn Monroe biopic, called Blonde, and The Gray Man for Netflix, in addition to Ghosted for Apple TV+.
Shay Hatten wrote the script for Ballerina, which will be directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld). Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski will produce the film alongside Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee. Production will begin this summer.
As for the primary franchise, John Wick: Chapter 4 has finished filming and is on track to arrive in theaters on March 24, 2023. Lionsgate is also producing The Continental, a three-part miniseries that serves as a prequel for the franchise, for STARZ.
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