Bill Nighy has signed on for a role in Caine, Lionsgate’s John Wick spinoff currently shooting under the dual command of Donnie Yen, who is directing the film while reprising his role as the franchise’s blind assassin.
Nighy joins a cast that already includes Mason Thames (The Black Phone) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), alongside Rina Sawayama, who returns as Akira — the character who, in John Wick: Chapter 4, held Caine responsible for her father’s death after a bloody siege on the assassin’s hotel. Nighy’s role has not been disclosed.
The film picks up after Chapter 4, following Caine now that he has been freed from his obligations to the High Table, the shadowy council governing a global empire of elite crime families. The screenplay comes from Mattson Tomlin, whose recent credits include The Batman Part II and the adaptation of the Keanu Reeves-created comic book BRZRKR, co-written with Michael McGrale.
Yen announced cameras were rolling on April 25, posting a photo of the film’s clapperboard to Instagram with the caption “Here we go…” Production is split between Budapest and Hong Kong, with the latter location suggesting the film will lean into Yen’s roots in East Asian action cinema. Franchise producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road and Chad Stahelski through his 87Eleven Entertainment banner are producing, with Reeves also on board as a producer.
Lionsgate first announced the project at CinemaCon in spring 2025, a year after Chapter 4 crossed $1 billion at the international box office. Caine arrives as the second John Wick spinoff following Ballerina, the 2025 Ana de Armas-led film that marked the franchise’s first venture beyond the Wick character.
Nighy arrives with considerable momentum. He is set to appear in Prime Video’s action-comedy series Ride or Die opposite Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham, which premieres July 15, and is also starring in Hugo Blick’s California Avenue for the BBC, opposite Helena Bonham Carter. The British actor, a BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee for Living, built his most recognizable screen persona through Love Actually and the Underworld franchise — the latter giving him prior experience in large-scale action mythology, a world Caine will demand he inhabit once again.
Also Read
Thames, who recently wrapped production on How to Train Your Dragon 2, brings a younger audience draw to the project. His specific role, like those of Montgomery and Nighy, remains under wraps.
