Keanu Reeves is going back to the High Table, this time in animation. Lionsgate has greenlit an untitled animated John Wick prequel with Reeves returning to voice the hitman, the studio announced during its earnings call Thursday, according to TheWrap.
The film will dramatize the "impossible task" John Wick completed to break free from the crime bosses who controlled him, a chapter fans have only heard about in the live-action films. Lionsgate did not share further plot details.
Shannon Tindle will direct from a script by brothers Ryan and Kaz Firpo. Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee produce for Thunder Road, with franchise architect Chad Stahelski producing for 87Eleven Entertainment alongside new partner Point Grey. Reeves also produces.
A proven animation team
Tindle directed and co-wrote the 2024 animated film Ultraman: Rising, which won three Emmys, and created the Emmy-winning series Lost Ollie. His résumé also includes LAIKA's Kubo and the Two Strings, which he created, plus character design work on Coraline, The Croods and TV favorites such as Samurai Jack and The Proud Family. The Firpo brothers co-wrote Marvel Studios' Eternals.
The prequel is the latest piece of a growing franchise. Ballerina, released last year, featured an extended Reeves cameo, and Caine, a spinoff centered on Donnie Yen's character from John Wick: Chapter 4, filmed this spring and summer with Yen directing. A TV series, tentatively titled John Wick: Under the High Table, is also in development with Robert Levine as showrunner.
No release date has been set. Revisit the live-action saga with our pages on John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4.
