As fans of the franchise have quickly learnt, in the John Wick universe, death isn’t always the end. Just ask Baba Yaga himself. A new promo clip for Ballerina just dropped, and fans are collectively confused after spotting Swiss actor and stuntman Daniel Bernhardt back from the dead. Is that Kirill, the guy who got strangled to death in the first John Wick film? Yeah, he just walked into a bar/pub and got into a shootout with Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro like he hadn’t been choked out with handcuffs 11 years ago.
Last year, the filmmakers behind the franchise cleared up the timeline: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is wedged neatly between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023). Simple enough. But now that we’re seeing Bernhardt, who played Kirill, the Russian mob enforcer who nearly took out Wick in Chapter 1, alive and shooting again, it’s become a little complicated. Is this a glitch in the Matrix, or just the Wickiverse doing what it does best: bending the rules without explaining them?
Redditor FlyingRodentMan was quick to point out, “This counts 3 characters he’s played in the franchise (so far): Viggo’s chief enforcer (Chapter 1), the first guy that fired the dragon’s breath shotgun (Chapter 4), and now this (Ballerina).” Another user joked, “There’s always a twin.”
IMDB doesn’t help much. It lists Bernhardt as “Scarred Eye Assassin” in Ballerina. Okay, sure. That could be anyone. But fans are having fun speculating whether this is a full-blown resurrection, a lazy reuse of a great stuntman, or just some fan service for those who pay attention to casting details.
Either way, nobody’s mad. “Yay! Daniel Bernhardt is awesome!” wrote SnooDoggos8218 on Reddit. Honestly, fair point.
Bernhardt is, of course, a longtime friend of director Chad Stahelski and even filmed a scene for John Wick: Chapter 2 that ended up on the cutting room floor. So bringing him back, whether as Kirill, Scarred Assassin #47, or just Daniel “Back Again” Bernhardt, feels like a nod to the fans more than anything else.
Honestly, it seems most of the cast and crew love making these films. Even the Ballerina actress herself, Ana de Armas, recently revealed in an interview with The Direct that she would love to return for the upcoming John Wick 5 alongside Keanu Reeves. “That would be really cool. I would love that,” de Armas said in an interview, stopping short of confirming her role in the 5th chapter (technically the 6th chapter of the franchise). “I mean, they already know each other, right?”
In Ballerina, Ana de Armas is front and center as Eve Macarro, a ballerina-in-training under the Ruska Roma assassin tradition. Ian McShane confirmed that her character is protected by Winston and Charon at the Continental Hotel during the events of the film. But whether she survives her run-in with Wick remains to be seen. However, considering the amount of promotion going into pushing the character (including a Call of Duty in Season 4 crossover called The Ballerina Tracer Pack, which lets gamers play as Eve Macarro in a red sequin dress), it’s very likely we’ll see her again.
To find out if she makes it out alive in Ballerina, we’ll need to watch the film when it releases on 6 June 2025. But don’t be surprised if she dies and comes back to life in future films either.
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