Warning: Contains SPOILERS for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina!

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina sees the return of the тιтular ᴀssᴀssin after his death in John Wick: Chapter 4, and John Wick 5 has to resolve a major plot hole that the spinoff movie created with his return. Ballerina is the first John Wick spinoff movie, and while it has a different protagonist, it couldn’t fully separate itself from Keanu Reeves’ John Wick.

Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro encounters John Wick several times throughout Ballerina thanks to both of them belonging to the Ruska Roma family. Although John Wick is currently ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in the franchise’s timeline, Ballerina takes place in between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, explaining his return.

Although Eve’s encounters with Wick are mostly peaceful, this changes at the end of Ballerina. As Eve is running through Hallstatt, she again runs into Wick. This time, however, he tries to kill her. After a fight, the duo actually teams up, and while they leave on peaceful terms, a major plot hole is left completely unresolved.

John Wick Working With The Ruska Roma In Ballerina Made No Sense

Based On John Wick 3’s Story

Eve’s encounters with John Wick throughout Ballerina have to do with the Ruska Roma family. Eve’s story is meant to take place simultaneously with John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, with Ballerina offering another perspective of the scene in which Wick meets with the Director in order to ask for safe pᴀssage to Casablanca.

Viewers who remember the story of the third John Wick will recall that the film sees Wick get declared “excommunicado.” This means that the world of ᴀssᴀssins’ various organizations can’t work with him, including the Ruska Roma. Thus, he is outcast from the family in the third film, with the Director even being punished for helping Wick get to Casablanca.

This is where the plot hole comes in. At the end of Ballerina, the Ruska Roma discover that Eve is in Hallstatt. The family had previously had a treaty with the Hallstatt cult, and Eve’s actions risk starting a war between them. So, the Ruska Roma decide to take Eve out. Confusingly, the person that they hire to do the job is John Wick.

Since John Wick is excommunicado in John Wick 3, the Ruska Roma shouldn’t be working with him during the timeline of Ballerina‘s climax. They could have hired anyone to take out Eve, and Ballerina doesn’t give a story justification as to why the Director would pick Wick of all people. After all, she had just had her hands stabbed for helping him previously.

On top of that, Wick has no reason to work for the Ruska Roma at this point. Despite him being outcast, he doesn’t owe the family anything. Wick has his own problems to deal with thanks to the growing bounty on his head, so it is incredibly odd why he made the detour to Hallstatt to kill Eve for seemingly no reason.

Keanu’s Return In John Wick 5 Can Clear Up The Confusion

It Has A Chance To Fix Ballerina’s Plot Hole

Luckily, the franchise has the perfect opportunity to clear things up in John Wick 5. Despite Wick’s death in John Wick: Chapter 4, a fifth movie is happening, and Keanu Reeves has been confirmed to return. This means there will be at least one more movie focused on Wick, and it can fix Ballerina.

John Wick 5 already has a lot to explain thanks to the decision to bring Wick back after his death. However, it really needs to explain why Wick worked with the Ruska Roma in Ballerina. Simply having a few lines would be enough, but the upcoming sequel cannot ignore this plot hole.

John Wick 5 could retcon the franchise by revealing that Wick had a good reason to help the Ruska Roma again during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Perhaps killing Eve was part of his deal with the Director, and the third film simply didn’t show this.

It could also be that the Director has been secretly helping Wick ever since he was declared excommunicado. Stabbing the Director’s hands may not have been enough, and it could be that her allegiance to her family member is stronger than her allegiance to the High Table.

John Wick 5 Ignoring Ballerina’s Ruska Roma Plot Hole Would Hurt The Franchise

It Makes The Spinoffs Feel Less Important

John Wick 5 has to explain this plot hole, as ignoring it would really hurt the franchise. Firstly, it would be the franchise’s first big continuity break. John Wick has had a surprisingly consistent story, but Ballerina‘s ending completely undercuts the entire story of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

On top of that, ignoring the plot hole would also hurt the John Wick spinoff movies. Allowing sloppy continuity errors like this to go unaddressed makes the spinoffs feel like an afterthought. With the Caine spinoff film and several other John Wick spinoff projects in the works, this is not the best way for the franchise to recover after Ballerina‘s box office failure.