The John Wick spinoff Caine has recruited a Harry Potter actor to join this world of colorful criminals.
Following Caine’s debut in John Wick: Chapter 4, Donnie Yen is both reprising the blind assassin and handling directorial duties for his solo movie. Filming began in April, and casting updates have followed in the last month. The latest addition to the lineup is another actor who knows his way around major franchises, even beyond the Wizarding World.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bill Nighy has been cast in Caine, though no details about his role have been revealed. Along with playing Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the actor’s other franchise bonafides include playing Davy Jones in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Viktor in three Underworld movies, and Howard Clifford in Detective Pikachu. He’s also well known for movies like Love, Actually, Hot Fuzz, and Living, the latter of which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Nighy is the fourth actor who’s been revealed to co-star opposite Yen in Caine. In May 2025, one month after the spinoff was officially announced, Rina Sawayama was confirmed to reprise Akira, who also debuted in John Wick: Chapter 4. Last month, Faces of Death’s Dacre Montgomery was unveiled as the first John Wick universe newcomer to appear in Caine, and he was followed by How to Train Your Dragon’s Mason Thames earlier this week.
Nighy is the fourth actor who’s been revealed to co-star opposite Yen in Caine. In May 2025, one month after the spinoff was officially announced, Rina Sawayama was confirmed to reprise Akira, who also debuted in John Wick: Chapter 4. Last month, Faces of Death’s Dacre Montgomery was unveiled as the first John Wick universe newcomer to appear in Caine, and he was followed by How to Train Your Dragon’s Mason Thames earlier this week.
Behind the scenes, Yen crafted the Caine story with Chad Stahelski, who directed the main John Wick movies, as well as produced the franchise’s first film spinoff, the Ana de Armas-led Ballerina. From there, Mattson Tomlin and Robert Askins wrote the screenplay. Stahelski is producing Caine alongside John Wick himself, Keanu Reeves, as well as fellow franchise overseers Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, and John Saunders.
Caine was introduced in John Wick: Chapter 4 as one of John Wick’s old friends who had also left behind his life as an assassin. However, he was forced out of retirement by the High Table to hunt down John in exchange for keeping his daughter safe. This culminated in a duel between the two men, where they were both seriously injured. When the Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont took Caine’s place to deliver the coup de grâce, John killed the antagonist with his final shot, thus freeing both him and Caine from the High Table.
Though John seemingly died of his injuries (though the development of John Wick: Chapter 5 calls this into question), Caine was free to reunite with his daughter in Paris. There’s just one problem: during the events of Chapter 4, he killed Akira’s father, Shimazu Koji, during his pursuit of John. So, in the movie’s final moments, Akira was shown approaching Caine with a knife to exact her revenge as he waited for his daughter.
It’s unclear if Caine and Akira will remain adversaries in this spinoff, or if events will require them to become reluctant allies. The same goes for how Nighy’s character is connected to Yen’s protagonist. Caine doesn’t have an assigned release date yet, but after production concludes in Budapest, it will continue in Hong Kong later this month.
- Writers
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Mattson Tomlin
- Producers
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Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Chad Stahelski
