Ian McShane hints at the timeline of the spinoff and his role in the adventure.

John Wick star Ian McShane, who played Winston in all four films, recently shed some insight into the upcoming spin-off movie Ballerina, with the actor noting that the movie takes place between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, which allows it to avoid any speculation about whether Keanu Reeves’ Wick died in the latest chapter. The actor also expressed how his character is incorporated into the narrative, likening his role in the spinoff to his early role in John Wick, as both films see Winston serving as an unlikely guardian of the protagonist. Ballerina is slated to hit theaters on June 7th.

“This one is set in between John Wick 3 and John Wick 4, because Keanu is in it, too,” McShane revealed to Collider. “You didn’t want to set it after John Wick 4, because then you’d have social media saying, ‘Oh, so he’s still alive! What’s he going to do next time? Is there a John Wick 5?!’ This way, you can still keep up the pretense that there might not be a John Wick 5.”

Reports claim that a fifth John Wick film is on the way, though with the implied death of Wick in Chapter 4, fans have been speculating about whether the character is dead for good and the next sequel could pivot its focus or if Chapter 4‘s finale was all a ruse.

Ana de Armas plays the title role in Ballerina, which also stars Gabriel Byrne and also features the late Lance Reddick. McShane then offered insight into how his Winston and Reddick’s Charon factored into the plot.

“This time we’re protecting Ana de Armas, and I had my great friend, Mr. Lance Reddick. God bless you, Lance — he passed away last year,” the actor expressed. “Lance and I bring our usual protection towards Ms. de Armas. And [director] Len [Wiseman] I found a delight to work for. Again, we worked out the script beforehand, so there was no wasted time.”

Given that the franchise features a world full of assassins with a variety of skills, there are a number of threats that will appear in the spinoff, but while detailing his thoughts on the script, McShane confirmed that Byrne would be playing the antagonist.

“They tend to make me sound a bit like an English dictionary sometimes on John Wick. They’re great writers — Michael [Finch] and Shay [Hatten] on those. We go through it, I check with them, and we cut it down to whatever,” McShane detailed. “Len had conferred with Chad [Stahelski], so I think there’s a continuity from the other Wick movies. So it should be very enjoyable. [Ana] was lovely to work with. I think Gabriel Byrne plays the chief villain, so there’s a good actor for you.”

Ballerina is slated to hit theaters on June 7th.