Casting Round-Up: ‘Ballerina’, ‘Loki’, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’

At this point, it appears that ‘Ballerina,’ the ‘John Wick’ spin-off starring Ana de Armas, will feature many people from the main franchise, at least to help it out initially.

The latest recruit for the film, according to Variety, is Lance Reddick, who has appeared in all three of the “Wick” films, and will once again play Charon, the clerk at the Continental Hotel catering to assassins.

“Charon is an integral part of the world of ‘Wick,'” producer Erica Lee said in a statement. “It’s great to know that Lance will continue to make his mark on the franchise.”

He’s just the latest part of a crossover casting for the film, as Keanu Reeves (aka John Wick himself) will reportedly appear, though that hasn’t been officially confirmed.

The news is even more stable that Ian McShane will be Continental’s manager in the film, while Anjelica Huston plays The Director, who is the head of the criminal organization Ruska Roma.

Len Wiseman, better known for the ‘Underworld’ and ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ franchises, is in the director’s chair for the film, which has a script from ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum’ co-writer Shay Hatten.

‘Ballerina’ will follow the character Ballerina who is briefly seen (and played by Unity Phelan) in ‘Parabellum’ and tracks down a young assassin seeking revenge against those who killed his family. Which feels fitting for something set in the world of John Wick.

‘Ballerina’ has yet to set a release date, although ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ will be released on March 24 next year.

Elsewhere, we have a double dose of Marvel/Disney+ casting news.

Michael Gandolfini, who is best known so far for playing the younger Tony Soprano (a role that his father James made famous on TV in ‘The Sopranos’) in the prequel to the ‘Sopranos’ film ‘The Many Saints of Newark’, joins ‘Daredevil: Reborn ‘.

The highly anticipated Disney+ series will see blind lawyer Charlie Cox turned vigilante fully transition from his Netflix years (assuming it’s the exact same character, jury remains out) to the MCU after appearing in ‘ Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and its more recent memorable run in the episode ‘She-Hulk’.

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ promises to reignite the clash between Daredevil and Kingpin, AKA Wilson Fisk, which Vincent D’Onofrio revived on the Netflix show and now on ‘Hawkeye’.

Written and executive produced by Matt Corman and Chris Ord of ‘Covert Affairs’ creators, the story of this new series remains a mystery for now, although we do know that it will cover 18 episodes in its first season.

As for who Gandolfini is playing, Deadline has heard from sources that it could be an ambitious breed named Liam from Staten Island –– though that, of course, could be misinformation to throw the scoopers off track. And who knows it’s also the cover for other comic book characters. We’ll know more when the series arrives in 2024.

Elsewhere in the TV branch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadline learned that ‘Game of Thrones’ veteran Kate Dickie was part of the cast for season two of ‘Loki’.

The show, which saw Tom Hiddleston’s adopted Asgardian and a trickster god clash with the mysterious organization known as the Time Variance Agency after affecting the timeline by escaping with the Tesseract during ‘Avengers: Endgame’, ends on a cliffhanger, with Loki in a different location. . timeline.

Season 2’s cast includes the likes of Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Eugene Cordero and the returning Tara Strong, while ‘Blindspotting’ Rafael Casal was added in July. Dickie’s role, in accordance with usual Marvel policy, is being kept under wraps for now, though Deadline’s sources suggest he is the villain.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are the principal directors for the show’s second season, which has finished filming and will premiere next year.