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Keanu Reeves mourned his late John Wick co-star Lance Reddick, who passed away at the age of 60 on Friday, March 17. The Matrix star, along with the John Wick: Chapter Four director, Chad Stahelski, shared an emotional statement paying tribute to the late actor, per Deadline, writing, “We are deeply saddened and heartbroken at the loss of our beloved friend and colleague Lance Reddick.” They added, “He was the consummate professional and a joy to work with. Our love and prayers are with his wife Stephanie, his children, family and friends. We dedicate the film to his loving memory. We will miss him dearly.”
Keanu and Lance worked on the action franchise together for all fours installments, including the latest one, John Wick: Chapter Four. Keanu, of course, played the titular role, while Lance played Charon, the concierge at the Continental, a hotel for assassins. Both artists were in the midst of the upcoming sequel’s promotional tour when Lance passed away. His rep confirmed the news of his death and said Lance died of natural causes, per Deadline.
Keanu obviously cared a great deal for Lance, as proven not only by his tribute but also in an anecdote Lance once revealed during a 2021 interview with Vulture. “During John Wick: Chapter Four, my first day of filming happened to be Keanu’s birthday. But he wasn’t in the scene,” Lance began. “He came to the set anyway at nine o’clock at night with his girlfriend who I had never met. And she is … can I say a bad word? His girlfriend is cool as f***. And she told me that she asked Keanu what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said, ‘I want to go see Lance.’ He’d never done this before but he wrote me a note thanking me for what I brought to the character in these movies. And he wanted to give the note to me. I’ll never forget it. I’m going to cry now.” Same.
If that wasn’t enough of an ego boost for Keanu, Lance added, “Whenever I work with a big movie star for the first time, I keep my guard up to protect my work from an ego, and if there’s any big movie star who’s not that person, it’s Keanu.”
The Baltimore native had an incredible career in Hollywood, which began in the mid-1990s, as he found work guest starring on shows like The Nanny and New York Undercover. He also found some film work with parts in The Siege and Great Expectations. Landing a recurring role on HBO’s Emmy-winning 2000 miniseries The Corner lit a fire under Lance, and he quickly parlayed that into a dozen episodes on HBO’s Oz and a notable storyline on Law & Order: SVU.
All these realistic parts were merely an amuse bouche for his grittiest role: Cedric Daniels in The Wire. Lance played the police officer in all 60 episodes of one of the most critically acclaimed shows in history. He also made his mark in Fringe, The Blacklist, Godzilla vs. Kong and many more high-profile projects. He is survived by his wife, Stephanie, and their children Yvonne and Christopher.
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