With the popularity of the John Wick series, now with three films and counting, plus spinoffs including a series about The Continental—the hotel that acts as an assassin neutral zone in the movies—as well as one centered on Ana De Armas' Rooney, titled Ballerina, all that was left was for fans to find out who among the colorful cast of criminals would be making a return.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed the return of Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family) as The Director, the head of the Ruska Roma syndicate which explains the ballet theme of the whole thing. She'll be in the upcoming motion picture about her side of the criminal underworld ruled by the High Table, the leading council of the assassin world.
Fans of the series will remember the inimitable Huston, who runs an assassin training program similar to the Red Room training that produces Black Widows in the MCU. Wick came to her for help in the third chapter of his series (Parabellum) after being declared excommunicado, bringing a rosary for safe passage from the group he was once a part of—with him and the Director having an almost mother-son relationship—to get passage to Casablanca. She reluctantly helped him and ended up getting stabbed through the hands for her efforts.
Huston and the Wick universe (Wickiverse?) will be rejoined by Ian McShane who plays the manager of the Continental, Winston, who was also declared excommunicado for his actions during the course of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in which he broke the neutrality of his hotel to help out Wick who had been wronged by the High Table. He will join Huston alongside newcomer to the series, Ana De Armas, as the ballerina of the title. De Armas has really made a name for herself in recent years in everything from Knives Out to her turn as Paloma in the most recent Bond movie, No Time To Die, where she got to show off her fighting skills as she aided James Bond when he went to Cuba.
The film will be the first cinematic spinoff for the John Wick series with the idea coming—per Wick producer Erica Lee—after everyone saw how good Huston was in Parabellum. The actress, who comes from a huge dynasty (her grandfather was actor Walter Huston, her father was actor and director John Huston, and her brother is actor Danny Huston), ironically had a mother who was a ballerina, meaning it's in her blood.
Ballerina currently has no release date.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter