Halle Berry Returning To John Wick Franchise
Chad Stahelski says he and Halle Berry are in talks for a spinoff film starring the latter as her character from John Wick 3.
Veteran actress Halle Berry made a splash when she appeared in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum as Sofia Al-Azwar, the Continental Hotel Casablanca manager who begrudgingly helped the series protagonist escape the group of crime lords known as The High Table. While her character did not appear in John Wick: Chapter 4, the Monster’s Ball star has hinted that she might return to the franchise. Now, ComicBook.com reports that this return might take the form of a spinoff movie.
John Wick director and series producer Chad Stahelski made this announcement when appearing on the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. When asked about Halle Berry’s return, Stahelski stated that there are multiple John Wick “satellite projects” (he hates the word “spinoff”) for the franchise. He said that he and Berry are in talks for such a movie, but he would not say that such a film was definitely happening.
The possible Halle Berry “satellite project” is the third John Wick spinoff we currently know about. The first spinoff is The Continental, a streaming series revolving around the mysterious chain of hotels that will appear on Peacock this September. The second is the 2024 film Ballerina, a standalone movie starring Ana de Armas as an assassin who will work to avenge her dead family.
The attempt to expand the John Wick series into a franchise revolving around more than just John Wick is a risky move, but one that could lead to some very lucrative results. The film series has been expanding on the workings of its universe, one in which there is plenty of room to explore its other intriguing characters. Halle Berry’s Sofia Al-Azwar is probably the best example of a character worthy of gaining the spotlight.
There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Sofia, who found herself owing a debt to John Wick for his help in getting one of her daughters into hiding. The circumstances surrounding the debt, the identity of her daughter, and the reason she needed to hide in the first place are all kept vague, leaving plenty of room to explore her back story. This, combined with Halle Berry’s outstanding performance and her character’s love for cute but vicious dogs, will probably bring people into theaters even if Keanu Reeves isn’t the protagonist.
Halle Berry’s appearance in John Wick: Chapter 3 — and her potential return in a spinoff — comes at a time when the longtime actress has made a surprising number of action-focused films. Starting in 2017 with the action-packed (but little-known) movie Kidnap and a minor appearance in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Berry moved on to appear in the third John Wick film, Bruised, and Moonfall. She’s also set to star in the action thriller Our Man from Jersey, and the action film Maude v Maude, in which she and Angelina Jolie starred as competing superspies.
Only time will tell whether Halle Berry will return to the John Wick universe. But, given both the director and the actress’s interest, the project will probably get picked up if both Ballerina and The Continental are successful.
