Female-led John Wick spin-off 'Ballerina' gets a director and Keanu Reeves as producer

Keanu Reeves has jumped on board as an executive producer the planned John Wick spin-off movie about a female assassin.

Ballerina will be directed by Len Wiseman, according to Deadline, the helmsman behind the Underworld movies and the recent Die Hard sequel Live Free Or Die Hard.

It will reportedly centre on a female assassin who is seeking bloody revenge against those who killed her family, and will be set in the John Wick 'universe'.

The actioner is now said to be on 'a fast track' to production, with a script from Shay Hatten, who penned the most recent Wick flick, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

It's not yet confirmed who will play the character, but she was briefly glimpsed in Parabellum – as a ballerina training to become an assassin – in which she was played by Unity Phelan, an actual soloist with the New York City Ballet.

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It's also not yet known whether Reeves will make a cameo appearance in the movie.

The John Wick series, directed by ex-stunt performer Chad Stahelski, has proved a hit for the Lionsgate studio, since the first movie – centring on Reeves' retired hit man coming back into the game after Russian mobsters murder the puppy given him by his dying wife – became cult viewing.

The second movie further developed the storyworld of a shadowy network of assassins, and made $171 million from a modest $40 million budget, while John Wick 3 did even better, making $323 million.

As yet, there's no planned release date for Ballerina.