The Executive Producer of Amazon’s “Secret Level” Initially Thought Keanu Reeves’ Casting Was a Joke, But It Delighted Everyone

Who would’ve thought we’d see Keanu Reeves pop up in an animated short inspired by Armored Core? Even Secret Level’s executive producer, Dave Wilson, was caught off-guard by this unexpected star power.

When Keanu made his surprise debut in the Secret Level trailer, it sent quite a ripple through the fan community. It’s not every day you see a big Hollywood name linked to something like Armored Core, right? I mean, sure, he was in Cyberpunk 2077, but that didn’t exactly prepare us for this. What’s even more amusing is that Wilson initially thought the idea of casting Reeves was just a prank. In a recent chat with GamesRadar, alongside creator and the director of Deadpool, Tim Miller, Wilson shared the backstage story of how Reeves became part of their project.

Miller recalled, “Though we hadn’t worked with him before, I did bump into him once. Turns out, Keanu’s a huge animation buff. He visited Blur Studios to chat about a completely different movie and ended up gushing about Love, Death and Robots. ‘Tell me all about it, I just love animation,’ he said.”

"I threw the idea out there—’We’re doing another project. Interested in being part of it?’ His response was classic Keanu: ‘F**k yeah.’ When I asked if there was a particular role he was eyeing, he just said, ‘No, just put me in coach.’ So, I turned to Dave and asked, ‘If you had to cast Keanu Reeves, which role would suit him?’ For a moment, Dave was convinced I was messing with him."

Things were a bit blurry for Wilson at first. He shared, somewhat humorously, how Miller’s voice-to-text message confused him, making him think Miller had suggested casting a piano instead. "I had to reread the text before it clicked. At first, I couldn’t wrap my head around it."

By the time Reeves joined, the project’s visual elements were already up, and casting was nearly wrapped up. Wilson was getting video submissions from actors, and he was stuck, thinking, "Tim, I’m out of roles!"

Yet, there was, fortunately, a significant spot still open for Reeves. It’s not long now until we see how he fits into the animated universe, with the series debuting its initial episodes next week. Tune in on December 10 when it drops on Prime Video.