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Have you watched that From the World of John Wick: Ballerina trailer yet? Looks pretty cool - our guy Keanu Reeves is back in the black suit, there's some great action set to bisexual lighting, and Ana de Armas, already famous in the action world as Bond girl Paloma, solidifies her image as a badass action star in her own right. The thing is, though, if an old rumor is true, we wouldn't have seen Ana de Armas in the titular role of Eve in this trailer at all. No, that lead would have been Chloë Grace Moretz.

All the way back in 2020, cinema outlet Full Circle reported on an update from infamous screen scooper Daniel Richtman that Moretz was director Len Wiseman's choice for the lead in the film, which would be the first cinematic spin-off of the John Wick franchise (remember, Peacock's The Continental is a TV show). Though neither Wiseman or studio Lionsgate ever confirmed this story, it made sense to a giant swath of the internet. The Ballerina, after all, is about a girl who was trained from a young age to be an unstoppable assassin that doles out her own justice, which is pretty much the character description of Hit-Girl, the character Moretz plays in 2010's Kick-Ass.

But just how much of that rumor was true? Well, that's where things get murky. On the one hand, Richtman correctly asserted that both Anjelica Huston and Keanu Reeves woud return to their respective franchise roles for the movie, but having taken part in multiple entries before this, that's not something entirely unguessable. Where Richtman ended up being entirely wrong was in the name he gave the lead character - according to the rumor, the Ballerina in question was to be named "Rooney Brown," and as you heard in the trailer, Ana de Armas plays a character called Eve.

To be totally fair again, though, things like name changes aren't terribly uncommon in Hollywood revisions, especially over the course of four years between first draft and finished product. 

Going down a rabbit hole of cinematic rumors is a pathway to madness and, besides, it's not as though it matters much now - the part is very much in Ana de Armas's hands. Still, it's an interesting world to imagine, this one in which a Moretz-starring John Wick spinoff happened, and if nothing else, it should be a reminder to all you studios out there that people want to see the former Hit-Girl in more action vehicles.

From the World of John Wick: The Ballerina explodes into theaters June 6.

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