John Wick 5 would be a huge risk after the last movie ended the story so perfectly, but Keanu Reeves’ upcoming John Wick appearance in 2025 will be even riskier. After years of delays due to rewrites, reshoots, and retooling, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is set to finally arrive in theaters on June 6, 2025. Ballerina is the first official spinoff movie in the John Wick franchise. Ana de Armas stars as Eve Macarro, a ballerina-turned-ᴀssᴀssin trained by the Ruska Roma (first seen in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum).

Ballerina isn’t just connected to the previous John Wick movies through the tenuous link of a league of ᴀssᴀssins posing as a ballet company; it’ll also feature some familiar faces from the mainline series. Anjelica Huston will reprise her role as “The Director,” the mysterious head of the Ruska Roma; Lance Reddick will make a posthumous appearance as Charon, the concierge of the New York Continental; and Ian McShane will return as Winston Scott, the owner of the H๏τel. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s also been confirmed that Wick himself will appear in the Ballerina cast.

John Wick’s Cameo In Ballerina Could Go Wrong In Many Ways

John’s Ballerina Role Is Still Being Tampered With

From a commercial perspective, it makes sense to include John himself in Ballerina. As the тιтle would suggest, that character is the main draw of the John Wick franchise. Merely setting Ballerina in the same universe as John Wick might not have been enough to entice audiences to come out to theaters, but the promise of seeing John himself back in action on the big screen might seal the deal. But from a creative standpoint, there are so many ways this cameo could go wrong — and so few ways it could go right.

John could steal the spotlight from Eve and overshadow her in her own movie. If John’s scene is all anyone is talking about on the film’s opening weekend, then it’ll have failed to tell a worthy story of its own. And even if that’s not the case and John’s cameo complements Eve’s journey instead of distracting from it, the cameo could still feel out of place or gratuitous. It’ll be tricky to come up with an organic reason for John to cross paths with the new protagonist, especially since he’s in hiding at this point in the John Wick timeline.

The most worrying thing about John’s cameo in Ballerina is that the producers still haven’t figured out how to make it work. According to producer Erica Lee, Ballerina’s filmmakers are still tampering with Reeves’ role in the movie. Lee admitted that they’re “still working on” John’s cameo and trying to figure out “the exact balance” of how much screen time he should have. She promised that viewers “will be really happy” when John shows up in Ballerina, but if they still haven’t nailed it down, then that remains to be seen.

Seeing Keanu Reeves Back As John Wick Before The Events Of Chapter 4 Will Be Weird

Chapter 4 Concluded John’s Story Perfectly

Ballerina takes place between the third and fourth John Wick movies, and it’ll be strange to see Reeves reprise his role at that point in the timeline. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum ended with a shocking twist in which Winston sH๏τ John off the roof of the Continental, John fell into the alley below, the Bowery King brought him back to his hideout, and they began to plot their revenge against the High Table. Between then and the beginning of John Wick: Chapter 4, John was supposedly in hiding.

There was no way Ballerina could take place after John Wick: Chapter 4 and still feature John himself, since John was apparently sH๏τ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at the end of John Wick: Chapter 4. But Chapter 4 ended John’s story so perfectly, allowing him to find peace in death and reunite with his late wife Helen in the great beyond, that it’ll be odd to see him back on the big screen like none of that happened. It might make Chapter 4’s ending feel less impactful, because it wasn’t the last time viewers saw John after all.

John Wick Returning In A Prequel Doesn’t Answer The Franchise’s Biggest Question

Is John Alive? And If So, How?

It’s exciting that John is returning to the screen in a new movie, but since it’s a prequel taking place before Chapter 4, it won’t answer the biggest question looming over the franchise. Since John’s death scene was sH๏τ and edited so ambiguously — and it’s John Wick, the guy who can seemingly survive anything — there’s a widespread fan theory that John is still alive at the end of Chapter 4. A body is never shown; it cuts straight from a bleeding John to a well-tended gravesite. It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that John faked his death.

If Reeves was returning as John in John Wick: Chapter 5, then the franchise would have to answer the question of whether or not John really died. If he faked his death, then he lives to go on another adventure. If he really died, then he might have to fight his way through the demons of Hell. Frankly, a proper John Wick 5 set in the fires of Hell would be a much more tantalizing prospect than a cameo appearance in an unrelated spinoff.

Ballerina Must Have More To Offer Than Just Its John Wick Cameo

Eve Needs To Be A Great Character In Her Own Right

As long as Ballerina is committed to bringing John back for a cameo appearance, then that cameo appearance needs to be awesome enough to justify recycling a character who already got a perfect ending. But the movie needs to offer more than just a great cameo by Reeves. Eve needs to be a compelling character in her own right — ideally, as compelling as John himself was when audiences were first introduced to a widowed ex-hitman who dusted off his old arsenal and rekindled his long-dormant bloodlust when his adorable puppy was murdered in cold blood.

With her brief but unforgettable turn as Paloma in No Time to Die, de Armas proved she can ably play an action hero and carry her own action vehicle. The biggest challenge will be coming up with a script that’s worthy of her talents. Shay Hatten, one of the writers of the past two John Wick movies, scripted Ballerina, so he should be able to bring the same thrills he brought to those films. But writing a sequel for an existing iconic character the audience already loves isn’t the same as introducing a brand-new character in the John Wick universe.