‘Ballerina’ Featurette Teases Highest Kill Count in the John Wick Franchise

A new featurette for Ballerina: From the World of John Wick was unveiled at CCXP Brasil. As well as showing off the incredible action, with new interviews with the cast, crew, and Keanu Reeves, the teaser also promises one of the highest kill counts in the entire franchise.John Wick started out as a simple tale of revenge, as the titular assassin (played by Reeves) hunted down the Russian mobsters who stole his car and killed his puppy. After being thrust back into the world of underground assassins, Wick’s kill count across the franchise kept growing and growing. What started out as 77 kills in the first film, turned into a whopping 140 kills in Chapter 4. But, Ballerina appears to have cleared the first three movies with just a single scene.

In the featurette, Ballerina star, Ana de Armas, discussed the beautiful flamethrower scene from the first trailer. Surprisingly, for a franchise that includes horse shootouts, dragon breath shotgun rounds, ninjas fighting on motorcycles, and Halle Berry with attack dogs, flamethrowers have been noticeably absent from the world of John Wick. Ballerina is righting that wrong, and doing it in style. “The flamethrower scene is insane,” said de Armas in the featurette. Judging by the featurette, the titular Ballerina looks to clear through a room of henchmen using a flamethrower. That in itself is impressive. But de Armas teased a kill count that would blow the roof off.

“The flamethrower scene is insane. I think I burn 106 people.”

For de Armas, shooting the scene was as insane as it looks on screen. “I only cried for the first man,” the actress said, reflecting on the scene. “The other 105, I was fine.” Alongside Ana de Armas, Ballerina also stars the late Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Norman Reedus, Anjelica Huston, and Keanu Reeves himself. Directed by Len Wiseman, Ballerina releases in theaters on June 6, 2025.

‘Ballerina’ Is More Than Just A “Female John Wick” Movie

In the featurette, Len Wiseman addressed a common criticism leveled towards the movie. Some disgruntled and bigoted fans have already written Ballerina off as a female retelling of John Wick. Wiseman described the movie as a brand-new story, which greatly expands upon the layered world of John Wick.“This is a story about Eve coming into it from the beginning,” he said.

Ana de Armas kicked ass in the first trailer. Many were worried that the spin-off would lose the signature action style of John Wick. But, de Armas appears to have trained hard, and the featurette teases many long-take fight scenes, with incredible action choreography. According to her co-star, Norman Reedus, “She’s balls out. Just fearless.” In the world of John Wick, the titular assassin is described as the Baba Yaga, or as the person you send to kill the Baba Yaga. Ian McShane has bestowed a new nickname upon Ana de Armas’ Eve. He said:

“John Wick is the Baba Yaga. And Ana, she’s the Baby Yaga.”