Lionsgate has officially greenlit its animated John Wick prequel, and Keanu Reeves has closed a deal to return as the voice of the legendary assassin in a film that will finally show the Impossible Task. The studio confirmed the move on Thursday, November 5, during its earnings call, ending a long wait that began when the project was first announced at CinemaCon in April 2025.
The film goes back in time to the story of John Wick before the original 2014 movie. It follows him as he carries out the task of killing all of his rivals in a single night, the feat that freed him from his obligation to the High Table and earned him the right to build a life with Helen. Shannon Tindle, the animation veteran behind Ultraman: Rising, is directing from a script by Ryan and Kaz Firpo, and Reeves is also producing.
- Lionsgate announced the greenlight on November 5, 2026, with Keanu Reeves signed to voice John Wick
- The untitled film is a prequel centered on the Impossible Task that freed Wick from the High Table
- Shannon Tindle directs from a script by Ryan and Kaz Firpo, the writers of Marvel’s Eternals
- Chad Stahelski, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Reeves produce, joined by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey
- No release date, title or animation studio has been announced
What Lionsgate confirmed
The announcement turns a concept into an active production. Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson first revealed the animated film at CinemaCon 2025, saying that in both animation and the world of John Wick the possibilities are endless, and that no story in the franchise has fans asking for more than the Impossible Task. Variety reports that Reeves has now finalized his agreement, which moves the project from announcement to real development.
Deadline describes the franchise as a billion-dollar property, and the animated film is the latest in a run of expansions that includes a streaming series, a spinoff feature and a video game. The production team is the same group that built the live-action films. Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee and 87Eleven Entertainment’s Chad Stahelski, who directed all four John Wick chapters, produce alongside Reeves. Point Grey Pictures, the company co-founded by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, joins as a newcomer to the franchise.
The timeline from idea to greenlight spans a little more than nineteen months. Fogelson revealed the project on April 1, 2025, at the Lionsgate CinemaCon presentation, with Tindle attached to direct and Reeves expected to return. Thursday’s confirmation, made as part of the company’s earnings call, formalizes the cast, the writers and the producing team, and it signals that the studio considers the film a priority within its franchise slate rather than a side experiment.
The Impossible Task, explained
For audiences who know the story only from the live-action films, the Impossible Task is one of the series’ best-known pieces of backstory. The original John Wick established that Russian crime boss Viggo Tarasov once gave Wick a seemingly suicidal assignment in exchange for the chance to leave the criminal world behind. Wick succeeded, which is how he was able to retire and marry Helen, and that history is the reason his return to violence in the first film carries so much weight.
The animated prequel will dramatize that mission in full. According to the studio’s description, it is the killing of every one of his rivals in one night, and it is set at the point where the character breaks away from the High Table, the powerful body that governs the assassin underworld. Because the live-action films have only referred to the task in dialogue, the new movie has room to show events that have never appeared on screen.
The decision to tell this story first also has a structural logic. Chapter 4 ended with the character’s death, a fact TheWrap points out when noting that rumblings about a fifth film persist despite it. Prequels, spinoffs and side stories have therefore become the franchise’s most natural way to keep Wick on screen, and an animated film set before the first movie gives Reeves a way to return to the role without disturbing the ending the live-action series chose.
Shannon Tindle and the creative team
Tindle’s credits include Kubo and the Two Strings and the Netflix feature Ultraman: Rising, which TheWrap notes blended 1960s-inspired visuals with manga and anime influences and used animation from Industrial Light & Magic. That background suggests a film that treats action as a visual language rather than a series of effects shots, which is how the live-action John Wick films have long been staged.
Ryan and Kaz Firpo, who co-wrote Marvel’s Eternals, are the credited writers. Reports from the announcement describe them as a new writing team for the project. The producers are the people who have guided the franchise since the first film, a continuity that matters for a story set in the early life of the character and tied closely to the rules and customs that Stahelski built around the High Table.
Why anime suits John Wick
No animation house has been named, but Gizmodo notes that the film appears headed for a style closer to anime than to a traditional Hollywood animated feature. Stahelski has spoken about the connection for more than a year. Last year he said, “I’ve always been fascinated with anime,” and described the medium as a natural next step because it can expand the world, the characters and the action in ways live action cannot.
The franchise already shares a lot with the genre. Its action relies on clear choreography and long, readable takes, its world is built from rules, hotels, coins and codes that read like the lore of a serialized anime, and its hero is defined by a single obsession. Animation also removes the physical limits that shape any live-action fight, so a prequel about one man eliminating a whole network of enemies in a night can be staged on a scale that would be difficult to film.
An R-rated animated film for adults
When the project was first announced, it was described as geared toward adult audiences and expected to carry an R rating, in keeping with the violence of the live-action films. MovieWeb has noted that a major studio putting resources behind an R-rated animated feature that is not a comedy shows how wide the medium can be. Adult-oriented animation has grown in recent years on streaming services, and a theatrical release backed by a franchise of this size would be a notable test of how large that audience is.
Every Movie Plug’s prediction
Every Movie Plug put a prediction in 2024 on record on X, and Thursday’s announcement gives readers a chance to compare it with what Lionsgate has now confirmed.
Where the animated film fits in the franchise
The prequel arrives as the John Wick universe branches out. The live-action series began with John Wick in 2014 and ran through Chapter 4 in March 2023, a film whose ending closed the main story of the character. Since then Lionsgate has widened the world with The Continental, the three-part prequel series that debuted on Peacock in 2023, and Ballerina, directed by Len Wiseman and released in June 2025.
More is coming. A standalone adventure based on Donnie Yen’s blind assassin Caine has finished filming and is expected in 2027, a fifth live-action John Wick film remains in development, and TheWrap reports that another television series, tentatively titled John Wick: Under the High Table, is also on the way with Robert Levine as showrunner. A video game was also revealed during a recent State of Play presentation. Seen together, the animated prequel is one piece of a broader plan to turn a single character into a shared universe, one that now spans film, television, games and animation.
Other long-running franchises are following similar paths. Every Movie Plug recently covered the record opening of the R-rated Godzilla Minus Zero in Japan, and Marvel’s plans for its own reboots are covered in our X-Men cast announcement story.
Keanu Reeves keeps expanding his animation work
The deal also adds to a busy run of animated and voice projects for Reeves. He voiced Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4, has been announced as the voice in the stop-motion samurai film Hidari based on the artist Jingorō Hidari, and has been linked to a new Lego movie with Toy Story 4 and Transformers One director Josh Cooley. For an actor whose live-action career has been defined by physical action, the move into animated storytelling shows how much of his work now sits outside traditional film sets.
Reeves has played Wick since the first film arrived in October 2014, and the character has become one of the defining roles of his career. The first movie was a modest success that grew into a series of four chapters, each larger and more elaborate than the last, with the fourth installment reaching theaters in March 2023. Voicing the younger version of the character in animation asks something different of the actor, since the performance will rely on his voice, breathing and rhythm rather than the physical stunt work he trained for on the live-action films.
What has not been announced
Lionsgate has not announced a title, a release date or the animation studio responsible for the film, and no other voice cast members have been revealed. It is also not yet known whether the film will receive a wide theatrical release or debut on a streaming service. Updates are expected as production moves forward, and Every Movie Plug will report them as they are confirmed.
Readers can follow the latest studio announcements in the Film News section and find longer features on franchises, characters and filmmakers in the articles section.
Quick answers
Is Keanu Reeves returning as John Wick in the animated movie?
Yes. Lionsgate announced that Reeves has signed a deal to voice John Wick and will also produce the film.
What is the animated John Wick movie about?
It is a prequel about the Impossible Task, the killing of all of Wick’s rivals in one night, which freed him from the High Table and let him be with Helen.
Who is directing the animated John Wick film?
Shannon Tindle, whose credits include Ultraman: Rising and Kubo and the Two Strings, is directing from a script by Ryan and Kaz Firpo.
When will the animated John Wick film be released?
Lionsgate has not announced a release date or a title for the film.
Will the animated John Wick movie be rated R?
When it was announced in 2025, the film was described as geared toward adult audiences and expected to carry an R rating.
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