Keanu Reeves Is Back as John Wick — But Not How You’d Expect
Keanu Reeves is coming back as John Wick — just not in the way anyone expected.
On Nov. 5, 2026, during Lionsgate’s fiscal Q2 2027 earnings call, Lionsgate officially greenlit an animated John Wick prequel and entered pre-production, confirming Reeves will return to voice the assassin — and produce. The film goes back to the beginning, telling the story of the “Impossible Task”: the single night Wick killed all of his rivals to free himself from the High Table so he could be with Helen. It’s set before the 2014 original that started it all.
Shannon Tindle, the director behind Ultraman: Rising, is helming the project, with Ryan and Kaz Firpo (Eternals) writing the script. (Vanessa Taylor was originally attached as writer when the project was first teased at CinemaCon in April 2025; the Firpos have since taken over.) Chad Stahelski is producing through 87Eleven, alongside Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures joining as a production partner.
There’s no title, release date, animation studio, or additional cast yet — but the Wick universe isn’t slowing down either way: a fifth live-action film is in development, along with a spinoff centered on Donnie Yen’s blind assassin Caine.
For a franchise that started as a scrappy $20 million action movie, John Wick has become one of the defining action sagas of a generation. Now the Baba Yaga is going animated — and somehow, that might be the most John Wick move yet.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Sources: Animation World Network | MovieWeb | ScreenRant | The Playlist | ComingSoon
