‘It was Keanu’s idea’: The ending of Ballerina is meant to honor the second John Wick movie’s final scene, director confirms
- Ballerina‘s final scene is a deliberate homage to John Wick: Chapter 2‘s ending, its director says
- Len Wiseman reveals it was Keanu Reeves’ idea to create a near-identical ending
- Wiseman already has ideas for a follow-up film
Ballerina‘s director has revealed it was Keanu Reeves’ idea to end the action-thriller in the same way as the second John Wick movie.
Speaking ahead of the film’s global release on June 6, Len Wiseman told TechRadar that Reeves, who plays the franchise’s titular hitman, suggested that Ballerina‘s final scene should mirror that of 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2.
Full spoilers immediately follow for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, so turn back if you haven’t watched it yet.
Ballerina ends with Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro watching her close friend, who was also a Ruska Roma assassin-in-training before she was kicked out by The Director, achieve her dream of becoming a fully-fledged ballet dancer.
However, as Macarro watches her performance at a local theater, the footage is interspersed with someone putting out a contract hit on the titular character. Numerous phones – owned by other hitmen, no less – start pinging and buzzing in the theater, which Macarro quickly becomes aware of. Knowing she’s in danger if she sticks around, she quietly leaves via one of the venue’s fire exits.
The ending isn’t dissimilar to John Wick: Chapter 2‘s final scene. That movie, which takes place years prior to Ballerina (find out more about this franchise’s timeline in my John Wick movies in order guide), closes with the eponymous hitman being forced to go on the run.
That’s because Wick executed a fellow assassin on the grounds of the New York branch of The Continental, a chain of hitman safehouses, which is a big no-no. Subsequently, a bounty is reluctantly placed on Wick’s head by Winston Scott, The Continental New York manager and Wick’s ally. As Wick flees the scene, the phones of assassins in his vicinity start ringing to notify them of the reward for whoever successfully takes down Wick.
“When Keanu and I were wrapping up [his on-screen involvement] in Ballerina, we talked about how this movie would end,” Wiseman told me, “And that ending was all Keanu’s idea. He wanted that last moment to be a riff on the second film’s final moment, which speaks to the ‘actions and consequences’ theme that runs through these movies.”
As obvious as it is to say, the open-ended nature of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina‘s final scene teases the possibility that Macarro’s journey will continue in Lionsgate’s multi-billion-dollar enterprise. So, does Wiseman have any thoughts on where this de Armas-led film series could go next in the Wick-Verse?
“In a fantasy kind of way, yeah, I have my ideas [of where a follow-up could go],” Wiseman replied when I asked about potential sequel plans. “But, I’d like to hear what people respond to in this movie first. I hope there’s speculation from fans about who they think is coming after Eve, too, because we don’t actually know who that is.”
Wiseman isn’t the only cast and crew member who wants one of 2025’s new movies to set up a future installment in The World of Wick.
In a separate chat, Norman Reedus, who plays the criminally underused Daniel (read more about why I think that’s the case in my Ballerina review), said he believes there’s plenty more to explore with his character. Indeed, the only things we really know about Daniel are that he is the son of Gabriel Byrne’s now-deceased cult leader known as the Chancellor, has a daughter, and survived Ballerina‘s events thanks to Macarro.
“I’d love to do all of those things,” Reedus said when I asked if he’d like to have his own spin-off film, appear in Ballerina 2, and/or show up in John Wick Chapter 5. “Let’s put that out there into the universe. I mean, it’s a no-brainer and, if this film does well, who knows what the future holds?”
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Ballerina‘s final scene is a deliberate homage to John Wick: Chapter 2‘s ending, its director says Len Wiseman reveals it was Keanu Reeves’ idea to create a near-identical ending Wiseman already has ideas for a follow-up film Ballerina‘s director has revealed it was Keanu Reeves’ idea to end the action-thriller…
