The life-changing mission brings Keanu Reeves back as John Wick

The animated prequel winds the clock back to John’s infamous “Impossible Task” — the one-night gauntlet where he had to eliminate every rival to earn his freedom from the High Table and a chance at life with Helen. Keanu Reeves has now closed a deal to voice Wick for the film, Variety reports, swapping gun-fu in live action for a stylized, blood-and-ink origin he’s never performed on screen before.

Unlike a typical origin story, this chapter follows how Wick tried to get out — and the brutal price he had to pay to leave. Lionsgate first announced the animated prequel in 2025 , pitching animation as a way to push the franchise in directions live action can’t.

• Director — Shannon Tindle (Ultraman: Rising, Kubo and the Two Strings)
• Writers — Ryan and Kaz Firpo
• Producers — Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Chad Stahelski, and Keanu Reeves; Point Grey is also on board

The Wick universe keeps expanding: across five movies — including From the World of John Wick: Ballerina — the franchise has topped $1 billion worldwide. A fifth live-action John Wick and a Caine spinoff built around Donnie Yen are in development.

The mission that changed everything: take out all his rivals in one night.

Meanwhile at Netflix

Reeves is also set to lead Maelstrom for Netflix, replacing Alan Ritchson , according to Page Six. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the thriller follows a Federal Marshal protecting an arms dealer’s fiancée in witness protection as a violent hurricane slams their location and mercenaries close in.

The project’s been a Hollywood boomerang: it started as a spec script bought in 1993 under executive Jeff Robinov, who now returns as a producer after more than three decades in development. Writer Mark Bianculli (How to Rob a Bank) is updating the screenplay begun by the late Gregory Fitzpatrick.

Release details for the animated prequel haven’t been announced. For Maelstrom, casting the female lead is the next milestone before cameras roll.