Keanu Reeves returns as John Wick in an animated prequel about the ‘Impossible Task’
Keanu Reeves is going back to the world of John Wick — but this time he will be doing it with his voice.
Lionsgate has officially given the green light to an animated John Wick film, and Reeves has signed a deal to voice the legendary assassin once again, Variety reported. The studio confirmed the news during its quarterly earnings call on Thursday, with chief executive Jon Feltheimer saying the film is in preproduction, according to Deadline.
The story fans have waited for
The film is a prequel set before the first John Wick movie from 2014. It will show the “Impossible Task” that the original films only hinted at — Wick taking out all of his rivals in a single night to free himself from the High Table, the criminal council that controls his world, and earn the right to be with the love of his life, Helen.
When the project was first unveiled at CinemaCon in April 2025, Lionsgate film chair Adam Fogelson said there was “no John Wick story fans are clamouring for more than the Impossible Task”.
Shannon Tindle will direct. He is known for Netflix’s Ultraman: Rising and for creating Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings. The script comes from brothers Ryan and Kaz Firpo, who co-wrote Marvel’s Eternals.
The franchise’s usual producing team returns: Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road and Chad Stahelski of 87Eleven Entertainment, with Reeves also producing. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s company Point Grey joins them, Animation World Network reported.
A growing Wick universe
Reeves, 62, first played the grieving hitman in 2014 and has now appeared as him in five films, most recently in a cameo in 2025’s Ballerina. Animation means the actor can return without the punishing stunt work that made the live-action films famous.
The animated film is one of several projects expanding the franchise. A spin-off focused on Donnie Yen’s character Caine was filmed earlier this year, and a television series is also in development, TheWrap noted.
No release date or title has been announced. But for fans who assumed John Wick’s story ended with Chapter 4, the news that Reeves himself will voice the character’s origin story is a welcome surprise, as LADbible also reported.
