Keanu Reeves PASSED on key roles in Fast X and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Turns out John Wick: Chapter 4 action star Keanu Reeves passed on not one, but two chapters in the Fast & Furious franchise.

The evergreen 58-year-old turned down the role of new leader of The Agency, Aimes (Alan Ritchson), who double-crosses Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) in Fast X by secretly teaming up with vengeful terrorist Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa).

“It was just luck and good timing,” Ritchson said OW on Tuesday.

‘I was working [Ordinary Angels] with Hilary Swank in Winnipeg in the freezing cold, and I got a call that things had changed in the plans with Keanu Reeves, who I think was originally meant to play my part. Hard to follow.’

Even after the North Dakota-born 40-year-old secured the role, there were “a lot of timing issues” that nearly kept him off set.

“Basically, the deal was if there’s no issues, we don’t close because of COVID or the weather, this should work,” the Reacher action star recalled.

“And about two weeks later, we got the news that we were going to be hit by the biggest snow storm in Winnipeg history. All production shut down. It was discouraging. I thought it was over before it started, but luckily we worked it out and they were able to move the dates up a bit further.’

Louis Leterrier’s 10th installment of the Fast franchise has so far recouped $318.9 million of its $340 million budget at the global box office, despite a dismal 54% approval rating (out of 235 reviews) on Rotten tomatoes.

Keanu previously played the role of the villainous Eteon director voiced by Ryan Reynolds in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, but “the timing wasn’t right.”

“I talked to Keanu about his role in the film,” said director David Leitch The fourth wall podcast in 2019.

“It just wasn’t the right time for him to do things. We talked about it for a long time and I wasn’t sure in what capacity. It was early and it continued. Even through the editors I thought of ideas if he was interested and he wanted to be in this world how we could do it.

So it really just came down to things he wanted to do and everyone’s schedule. It didn’t work out with this one, but I’m looking forward to hopefully working on something with Keanu.”

The $200 million budget comedy spin-off, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham, grossed $760.7 million in 2019, despite an approval rating of 68% (out of 348 reviews) on Rotten tomatoes.

Refused: The evergreen 58-year-old turned down the role of The Agency’s new leader, Aimes (L, Alan Ritchson), who double-crosses Dom Toretto (R, Vin Diesel) in Fast X by secretly teaming up with vengeful terrorist Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa)

Ritchson (pictured last Saturday) told EW on Tuesday, “It was just a little stroke of luck and good timing. I was working [Ordinary Angels] with Hilary Swank in Winnipeg in the freezing cold, and I got a call that things had changed in the plans with Keanu Reeves, who I think was originally meant to play my part. Difficult act to follow’

‘They were able to push the dates a bit more’: Even after the North Dakota-born 40-year-old secured the role, there were ‘a lot of timing issues’ that nearly kept him off the set

Keanu previously played the role of the villainous Eteon director, voiced by Ryan Reynolds (R, pictured in 2019) in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, but “the timing wasn’t right”

Director David Leitch (R) told The Fourth Wall podcast in 2019, “I talked to Keanu about his role in the film. It just wasn’t the right time for him to be doing things… It really just came down to things he wanted to do and everyone’s schedule. It didn’t work with this one

More wick? Fans concerned about Reeves’ fate at John Wick 4’s “ambiguous” ending can rest easy knowing that producer Basil Iwanyck told IndieWire in March that he would like to explore ideas for a fifth “if the [fourth] movie is doing really well and people love it’

From June 7, 2024 in US cinemas! The Beirut-born Canadian already reprized his beloved character in Len Wiseman’s John Wick spin-off, Ballerina starring Oscar nominee Ana de Armas

Fans worried about Reeves’ fate at John Wick 4’s ‘ambiguous’ ending can rest easy knowing producer Basil Iwanyck told IndieWire in March, he’s eager to explore ideas for a fifth ‘if the [fourth] film is doing very well and people love it.’

The Beirut-born Canadian already reprized his beloved character in Len Wiseman’s John Wick spinoff, Ballerina starring Oscar nominee Ana de Armas, which opens in U.S. theaters on June 7, 2024.

The Cuban 35-year-old replaced real-life professional ballerina Unity Phelan, who played grieving ballerina-turned-hitman Rooney in 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.