Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘wow, self, wouldn’t John Wick make a great anime?’ Well, someone has because a John Wick anime is a thing that will happen soon. Since the first John Wick film came out in 2014, we’ve been enamored with the Keanu Reeves-led action franchise. The action film came with great fight choreography, stellar performances from some of our favorite actors, and elaborate world-building perfect for creating spin-offs like The Continental. When laid out like that, an anime series doesn’t seem nearly as out of left field as one might think.
John Wick director Chad Stahelski spoke with The Discourse Podcast about the upcoming anime series. Stahelski shared he’ll be more involved with the anime series than he was with The Continental as well as a few more details. Here’s everything we know about the John Wick anime so far.
What’s the John Wick anime about?
We don’t know much about the plot this early but Stahelski shared it could focus more on John Wick 4 characters like Akira (Rina Sawayama), Cain (Donnie Yen), and the Tracker (Shamier Anderson). “The TV show and the ancillaries will give us a chance to expand the kind of fun world we’ve created, and it doesn’t have to be John Wick, the character specifically,” he said on the podcast.
The anime format will allow the crew “to create all the cool stories that anime could achieve better than we could,” says Stahelski. “So we’re really looking forward to that; we’re really excited about it because we’re doing that and a Japanese anime because I love Japanese anime so much.”
Who’s part of the John Wick anime cast?
Casting for the anime has yet to be announced but we hope some actors from the films show up in some capacity. As we stated earlier, Stahelski mentioned Sawayama, Yen, and Anderson by name but nothing is set in stone as of yet. It might be wishful thinking but we’d love for Reeves to return as Wick in the anime adaptation too.
When is the John Wick anime release date?
Stahelski told The Discourse Podcast Lionsgate has yet to partner with an anime studio so the anime is still a ways away. At the earliest, a late 2024 release could be possible but we think a 2025 release is (sadly) more likely. Until Lionsgate issues a confirmation either way, we can only guess at the date for now.
Either way, we know we’ll be watching!