Ana de Armas Leads Deadly Dance in Ballerina Final Trailer

Ballerina is not a standalone film, but rather takes place during John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. In 2019’s Chapter 3, Keanu Reeves’ titular character earned the enmity of the High Table after killing crime lord Santino D’Antonio in front of the Continental Hotel, with the magistrates agreeing to make Wick an “excommunicado” and put a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head. This sent him on the run through New York City, culminating in his escape to the Russian mafia gang, the Ruska Roma.

The Ruska Roma is led by a secretive woman simply known as the Director (played by Anjelica Huston), and doubles as both a sanctuary and training facility for young girls. We saw them briefly in Parabellum when a group of young ballerinas were practicing in the theater — one in particular caught the eye of director Chad Stahelski. That character was Eve Macarro, played by Unity Phelan, and in Ballerina, she will be at the center of the story as Ana de Armas steps into the lead role.

It’s also worth mentioning that several actors have been confirmed as returning to the role in the Ballerina spin-off. In addition to Huston, Ian McShane will reprise his role as Winston, the Continental manager, while the late Lance Reddick will appear as his usual self, Charon, the Continental concierge. As mentioned, Stahelski recently shared on social media that it would be his final film role and will be dedicated to Reddick, who passed away in March 2023.

There are some other familiar faces as well, including Gabriel Byrne, who plays the Chancellor, the film’s main villain, who gets a town riled up against Eve. Sharon Duncan-Brewster plays Eve’s mentor, Nogi, while Norman Reedus plays the role of Daniel Pine. Casting announcements have also been made for Catalina Sandino Moreno and David Castañeda, though little more is known about the roles.

Exploring Eve’s Path in Ballerina

The first trailer for Ballerina dropped in September 2024, offering viewers a taste of Eve’s background. An orphaned young woman whose father was murdered, Eve had one goal in joining the Ruska Roma as a ballerina-assassin: To avenge her father’s death. This first trailer also mostly focused on Eve, with only a single cut-away from her and a close-up of John Wick looking intently down the barrel of his gun.

The second trailer, released in March 2025, gave viewers more of what they wanted. Fans got another look at John Wick, and in this case, it was a snowy, extended encounter between the two assassins. The trailer was more ambiguous about the two sharing screen time, but left no doubt that a meeting of the minds was on the horizon.

The final trailer was released on May 16, 2025, and is a sharp left turn from the previous two, although that is only from a thematic standpoint. It opens with a vulnerable Eve in the crosshairs of John Wick’s gun, staring up into the lens. A beat later, the full trailer unspools in a brief montage of new and previously released footage, bookended by this first image and a more triumphant Eve victorious over an unseen foe.

The brutal and gritty choreography is everything the previous Wick movies and spin-offs have been, though this time it’s a female lead doing the dirty work. Ana de Armas is more than up for the task, strutting her stuff as the titular ballerina, going toe-to-toe with wave after wave of masked assassins. In the mix are close-quarters beatdowns and brutal fistfights, as well as more stylized choreography utilizing a variety of knives, blades, and the ballerina’s dancing shoes.

Earned Respect as a Wick Series Character

The lone line spoken by de Armas is definitive: “This isn’t done until they’re dead.” This is a key sentence in her origin story — to put it lightly — as well as one that could apply to the franchise at large. The ballerina assassin, the final trailer shows de Armas as, at least in this film, is very much in the mold of what fans have come to expect from the John Wick films.

It’s slick, stylish, and brutal, with an obvious through-line and practical choreography, done by some very skilled and practiced fighters. This, coupled with some of the twists and turns in the plot, has the makings of something special — and de Armas has earned the right to be in the spotlight. Ballerina is an opportunity for de Armas to really shine, in the same way that Reeves has over the previous films.

The basic tenets of the John Wick films and series are still here. The choreography is precise, tightly staged, and undeniably satisfying to watch, and the look and feel are very similar to the earlier films, right down to the dingy basement fight club. At the same time, this is also a story that largely focuses on a young female assassin finding her place in the violent criminal underworld Wick rules over with an iron fist.

Fans of the John Wick series should be just as entertained by Ballerina as they are by any other entry in the series, if not more so. The balancing act of intimate, character-driven scenes and blockbuster, action-driven ones that work in tandem has been one of the hallmarks of the franchise since the first movie, and if Ballerina is any indication, it will likely stick to that recipe as well.

Catch Ana de Armas and John Wick duke it out on June 6, 2025, when From the World of John Wick: Ballerina arrives in theaters.