Lionsgate has made its animated John Wick feature official, confirming Keanu Reeves will reprise the assassin in voice and that the project is now in preproduction. The announcement landed alongside the studio’s quarterly earnings, turning a long-teased idea into a formal greenlight.
The greenlight
Shannon Tindle will direct from a script by Ryan & Kaz Firpo. The producing team keeps the live-action architecture intact: Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, 87Eleven Entertainment’s Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves, and Point Grey are all attached.
Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, made the case for the project at CinemaCon 2025. “There is no John Wick story fans are clamoring for more than the Impossible Task,” Fogelson said. “Shannon’s take on that story is an incredible one, and we are beyond excited to see what John Wick can do in animation.”
CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed after earnings that the film is in preproduction.
Why the Impossible Task matters
The film does not continue after John Wick: Chapter 4. It goes back before the first film to show the Impossible Task—the job John completes to free himself from his obligation to the High Table and earn the right to be with Helen.
For a billion-dollar franchise, that is a lower-risk expansion than inventing a new sequel premise. The event already exists in fan conversation, and the story has been referenced in earlier films but never shown. Lionsgate is answering a question the audience has been asking for years.
- Built-in demand: the Impossible Task is a known event, not an unfamiliar pitch.
- Continuity: Reeves and the core producing team return even though the format changes.
- Format extension: animation gives the studio another way to keep the franchise active.
For media planners and marketers
The greenlight matters because it is not a side project. Lionsgate is putting the same producing brain trust behind the animated feature and using the star as the voice, which signals the company wants this to feel like canon, not a children’s spin-off.
Marketers should watch how the film is positioned. If Lionsgate leans into the action audience rather than defaulting to family animation, it can preserve the premium positioning of the brand. The Impossible Task also gives planners a search-friendly hook: audiences already know the phrase.
The choice of Tindle also matters. He has worked on projects known for visual craft—Kubo and the Two Strings and Ultraman: Rising—so the film is likely to be judged on action choreography and tone as much as story. If animation can capture John Wick’s physicality, it could open a new production lane for the franchise; if it reads as softer, it risks alienating the core audience.
What to watch next
The first footage will be the test. If it preserves the action language of the live-action films, Lionsgate has a new format for the franchise. If it softens the material, the studio may have a well-known asset that still underperforms.
Source: Deadline
