A new teaser poster and featurette for John Wick spin-off Ballerina twirls our way

A teaser poster and featurette for next year’s Ballerina, which serves as a midquel spin-off of the John Wick franchise, has arrived.

Lionsgate is bringing light in darkness, unveiling a character poster for Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro, the titular ballerina of the upcoming John Wick spin-off movie, adding to the already peak anticipation for this expansion. Following their CCXP presentation Sunday, Lionsgate also released a new extended look featurette examining the film.

As you can see on the poster, Eve is tatted up, with one notable phrase standing out above the rest: Lux in Tenebris, which is Latin for Light in Darkness. That might feel a little on the nose, but it does give us a better glimpse into her psyche – especially when she’s got a gun in her hand. The poster has incredible coloring to it, too, which plays off of the trailer quite nicely. Check it out:

In the trailer that was released in September, we saw a familiar face right away, Winston Scott (Ian McShane), who approaches a young Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) and offers to bring her to a ballerina school. Except these are no ordinary classes and soon she is prepped with: “To stop the assassin, you must become the assassin.” From there, it was cleverly set to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” – but this ballerina isn’t exactly dancing in the sand, instead positioning herself as someone you don’t exactly want to tango with. And for those wondering, yes, Keanu Reeves does turn up in the trailer, with Eve stating, “You’re him. The one they call the Baba Yaga. How do I start doing what you do?”

While we will have to wait until June 6th for Ballerina to hit theaters, everything we’ve been given so far should hold us at least for a while. While the four John Wick movies have easily marked themselves as some of the best action movies to come out of the century – with plenty holding the argument that it’s one of the finest action franchises ever – we all got a little skeptical of the purpose of expanding once Peacock’s The Continental disappointed.

But based on the materials released up to this point, I’m expecting amazing things that fit well into the John Wick universe (hey, it’s right there in the clunky official title, too: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina). For the sake of understanding the narrative, Ballerina takes place between the events of 2019’s Parabellum and last year’s John Wick 4, hence the more battered John Wick.

In addition to Reeves and McShane, Ballerina will also bring back Anjelica Huston and the late Lance Reddick, with the film marking his final posthumous appearance. It will also introduce Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus and Catalina Sandino Moreno into the mix.

Are you looking forward to Ballerina? Where do you see the John Wick franchise going from here?