Keanu Reeves and his castmates wore blue ribbons in honor of co-star Lance Reddick to the John Wick: Chapter 4 premiere on March 20. Reddick died on March 17. (Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
Keanu Reeves honored Lance Reddick at Monday’s John Wick: Chapter 4 premiere.
Reeves and his co-stars wore blue ribbons on the red carpet in tribute to Reddick, who died on Friday at age 60. Reddick played Charon in the film franchise. The fourth film hits theaters on March 24.
“We worked together on four films over 10 years,” an emotional Reeves, 58, told People outside the TCL Theatre in L.A. “He was a remarkable artist and a special person with grace and dignity.”
He said the memory that is foremost in his mind, “Is the first time that I met him and we worked together on John Wick. He had this idea for the way that he wanted the character to speak — and just his enthusiasm and passion. And the way that he and I got to work and kind of speak the unspoken, that connection. It’s just really cool.”
Reeves said “the connection between John Wick and Charon was special. I always said to him that people liked John Wick because he liked John Wick.”
Other members of the cast including Laurence Fishburne, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, Donnie Yen as well as director Chad Stahelski also wore blue ribbons for the event.
Immediately after Reddick’s death, Reeves and Stahelski announced they were dedicating the sequel to their “beloved friend,” who “was the consummate professional and a joy to work with.”
Keanu Reeves and Lance Reddick at a John Wick screening after-party in 2014. (Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Reddick, who also starred in The Wire, Oz and Lost, died “suddenly of natural causes,” his rep told Yahoo Entertainment on Friday.
Over the weekend, Reddick’s wife Stephanie — with whom he shares children Yvonne Nicole and Christopher — posted a message to her husband’s social media accounts, writing, “Lance was taken from us far too soon. Thank you for all your overwhelming love, support and beautiful stories shared on these platforms over the last day. “I see your messages and can’t begin to express how grateful I am to have them.”
In addition to his role in Chapter 4, Reddick recently appeared in all seasons of Prime TV’s Bosch, co-starred in Netflix’s 2022 Resident Evil series and portrayed Zeus in the upcoming Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He appeared in the upcoming remake of White Men Can’t Jump with rapper Jack Harlow, out later this year, and was also set to star in the green-lit John Wick spinoff, Ballerina, opposite Ana de Armas.