One of the best John Wick-inspired action movies is streaming now on Prime, and still deserves a sequel nearly a decade on. The John Wick movies reinvented the genre after the franchise debuted in 2014. American action movies had grown stale after too many dreary ripoffs of Taken, while the original John Wick – with its long takes and highly choreographed fights – felt like something new.

Naturally, this led to a slew of John Wick clones, including Extraction, Nobody and Kate. The original John Wick was co-directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, with Stahelski then taking over for the rest of the sequels. Leitch used the film’s success to kick off a solo career, helming the likes of Bullet Train and The Fall Guy.

Easily Leitch’s best solo directing credit is 2017’s Atomic Blonde, starring Charlize Theron as a spy investigating a colleague’s murder in Berlin. In addition to Theron, the cast included James McAvoy, John Goodman and Sofia Boutella, and thanks to its 1980s setting, it had a soundtrack full of classic bangers. For action fans who missed it the first time – or want to revisit the film – Atomic Blonde is now streaming on Prime Video.

Atomic Blonde Is One Of The Best John Wick-Inspired Action Movies

Admittedly, Atomic Blonde’s plotting gets real twisty and convoluted, but in a way that feels intentional; after all, the spy game is meant to be a tad confusing. The big selling point of Leitch’s action thriller was Theron herself, who was coming off the acclaim of Mad Max: Fury Road. Atomic Blonde was built as an action vehicle for its leading lady, and her fight sequences are suitably incredible.

The standout is a staircase battle that is as grueling to watch as it must have been to perform, but each fight involving Theron’s Lorraine is seriously impressive. It brings in the same use of long takes and complex fight choreography as John Wick, but it feels more brutal and grounded. Unlike Wick – who often walks off vicious blows with a shrug of his shoulders – Atomic Blonde often highlights the physical toll these brawls take on Lorraine.

Is Atomic Blonde In The Same World As John Wick?

Since Atomic Blonde and John Wick: Chapter 2 were shot around the same time, Theron and Keanu Reeves ended up training together. Given the strong links between productions, talk soon emerged of a potential crossover. Pairing Reeves and Theron together for a John Wick/Atomic Blonde crossover sounds cool on paper, and Leitch himself sounded open to the idea at the time.

The problem is that the original John Wick is set around 2014 – the same year the film was released. Atomic Blonde clearly states it takes place is 1989, so pairing the two characters would have required Lorraine to be aged up a further 25 years. There could have been ways around this, like splitting the difference with a story set about a decade before the first John Wick, but that could have made for some messy timeline issues.

As to whether they take place in the same world, that’s doubtful. Outside of similar action sequences, there are no character or plot links between them. What’s more, Bill Skarsgård appears in a small role in Atomic Blonde, and later played a totally unrelated villain in John Wick: Chapter 4.

Atomic Blonde Deserved A Sequel, So Why Didn’t One Happen?

While Atomic Blonde once seemed poised to become a franchise, it appears that won’t happen now. A sequel was in development with Netflix around 2020, but despite Theron sounding positive about it happening, news on the follow-up soon went real quiet.

Theron later admitted to Elle in a May 2026 interview that Atomic Blonde 2 probably wasn’t happening, stating, “I think we might’ve passed the moment.” If a sequel suddenly popped up on a streaming platform, it would likely still perform gangbusters, but sadly, it feels like the momentum behind the movie has faded now.

Source: Elle