John Wick 4: Rogue One’s Donnie Yen joins cast as Keanu Reeves’ old fighting friend

Everyone’s favorite dog-loving assassin, John Wick (Keanu Reeves), is meeting up with an old friend in the fourth installment of the super-assassin action franchise.

SYFY WIRE has confirmed that Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Mulan) has joined the cast of John Wick 4. Lionsgate and director Chad Stahelski announced the news today, and added that Yen will play an old friend of John Wick’s. 

“We are very lucky to have Donnie Yen join the franchise,” Stahelski shared in a statement. “I am looking forward to working with him in this exciting new role."

Who Wick's old friend is, exactly, remains to be seen, though we do know Yen's character shares some history with the titular assassin and, by extension, has some of the same enemies as well. Given Yen's amazing martial arts skills, there's also little doubt that his character will be able to keep up with Wick, a man who can fight off bad dudes in all sorts of places, including horse stables.

Star Wars fans will likely recognize Yen as the blind Force-loving fighter Chirrut Îmwe from 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story or as Mulan’s teacher Commander Tung in the live-action Disney movie. Yen’s impressive fighting skills are also on display in xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Blade II, and the IP Man franchise. 

“Donnie Yen will bring a vibrant and powerful energy to the franchise,” said producer Basil Iwanyk. “We were determined to bring him on board to John Wick 4 and are thrilled for the opportunity to have such a major talent to collaborate with Keanu.”

We don’t know much else about John Wick 4 so far. We do know, however, that at the end of the third movie, Parabellum, John had a pretty big grudge against the High Table, the de facto rulers of the underground assassin world. Will Wick be fighting basically everyone all over again?  We don't know yet, but with Yen's casting, we do know that he'll have an old friend who happens to be a master fighter by his side. 

John Wick 4 will fight its way into theaters May 27, 2022.