John Wick Universe’s Ballerina Drops Last Trailer Before Premiere

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is now just three weeks away from hitting theaters, the Ana de Armas-led spin-off that promises a touch of new blood for one of the most successful action franchises in recent memory. Lionsgate has just released one final trailer ahead of the June 6, 2025, premiere, and it’s every bit as explosive and elegant as one might expect.

Filmed primarily in Black and White, the footage intercuts scenes from Ballerina with snippets of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, suggesting that the events of the spin-off take place during the 2019 film. That movie saw Keanu Reeves’ titular protagonist blacklisted by the High Table after committing the cardinal sin of murdering a mob boss, Santino D’Antonio (a.k.a. Don Oscar), on the grounds of the Continental Hotel. With a multi-million dollar bounty on his head, John Wick fled New York City, killing as many of the High Table’s representatives as he could before finding refuge with the Ruska Roma, a group of traditional Slavic nomads based out of an abandoned monastery.

Directed by the imposing and inscrutable Director (played by Anjelica Huston), the Ruska Roma were established as both a refuge for John Wick and a training ground for aspiring hitmen. Their leader’s proteges were not simply ballerinas — they were ballerina assassins, and one of them is the primary subject of the third installment of From the World of John Wick. In Parabellum, there was a notable cameo that featured a young ballerina (played by Unity Phelan) practicing on stage; that is Eve Macarro, and she’s the main character of Ballerina, played by Ana de Armas.

Ian McShane also returns to the role of Winston, the manager of the Continental, and the late Lance Reddick is set to make his final on-screen appearance as Charon, the Continental’s fast-talking and always-efficient concierge. Those are familiar faces that are back for the Ballerina spin-off, but there are also several new additions that we’re going to get to know very well.

Gabriel Byrne joins the cast as the Chancellor, the main villain in the film, who is out to have an entire town bring Eve down. Sharon Duncan-Brewster is in the film as Eve’s mentor and teacher, Nogi, while Norman Reedus appears as Daniel Pine. Additionally, Catalina Sandino Moreno and David Castañeda are on the cast list, but their characters are still under wraps.

Building a Deadly Path of Revenge with Keanu Reeves’ John Wick in Tandem

When the first trailer for Ballerina was released back in September of 2024, it focused on her origin story. The first 90 seconds of that preview show Eve as a child who, having lost her parents at an early age, became a ward of the Ruska Roma, a community that she joined with a singular goal in mind — avenging her father’s death. In that first look, Eve was played by the same Unity Phelan who had a moment in Parabellum. She’s since been replaced by Ana de Armas, who’s emerged as the new face of the franchise in the past few years since Wick was released.

Little was shown of Keanu Reeves’ John Wick in the initial preview, and the emotional pull of Eve’s back story was the driving force of that premiere. Fast forward to March 2025, however, and the second Ballerina trailer looked to appease longtime fans of the franchise who wanted to see a more hands-on approach from Keanu Reeves. With that in mind, it opened on Eve and Wick at an intimate and atmospheric meeting in a snowy and isolated area. While the characters spend very little time together on screen in that clip, it shows them sizing each other up and being more than a little familiar with what it takes to survive being on someone’s hit list.

Now that that third trailer has finally arrived, it feels a lot more brazen, turning up the aggression by several notches. It opens with Eve in a tense standoff, staring upward while John Wick has her in his sights. From that point, there’s a mixture of new and old clips strung together to create an adrenaline-fueled montage of knife fights, gun battles, and brutal fight choreography. There’s a much stronger emphasis on Ana de Armas’ physical performance and her commitment to the part, as she fights off one enemy after another in the balletic, slow-motion violence that the franchise has become known for.

Eve makes a promise that echoes with icy finality: “This isn’t done until they’re dead.” Her words underline both her mission and the very DNA of the John Wick universe, a gun-slinging and knuckle-dusting world in which justice, revenge, and honor are complex and deeply personal.

Ballerina is the first John Wick film to put a woman at the center of its narrative, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a soft reboot or a reimagining. This spin-off is still filled with all of the tightly choreographed, unapologetically stylish filmmaking that made Wick, Chapter 2, and Parabellum into such a cultural phenomenon in the past 15 years. It’s just that, this time around, it’s the lead assassin in Ballerina who commands center stage, while the rest of the world unfolds around her and her deadly journey for revenge.

Ana de Armas gets the space and opportunity to build on her performance from Mission: Impossible 7 in what is sure to be one of the biggest films of 2025, but Keanu Reeves’ John Wick is still present and woven into the fabric of Ballerina’s story. It’s the perfect marriage of both concepts: one that not only expands on what John Wick has been thus far but also gives Ana de Armas the room to shine.

Mission: Impossible 7 Trailer Review: Ana De Armas “Swings” Into Action! From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2025.