Secret Level could serve as proof of concept for movie or TV adaptations of Mega Man, Warhammer, and Armored Core. The latter would be even more appealing if Keanu Reeves reprised his role.

Armored Core fans were in for a special treat with Secret Level‘s 13th episode; Keanu Reeves channeled both Johnny Mnemonic and Neo in “Armored Core: Asset Management”, a 14-minute animated short about a mech pilot with questionable motivations. Staging fast-paced mech fights against the backdrop of a dystopian, alien world, the episode was also defined by Reeves’ hyperreal semblance and his stoic, John Wick voice. Speaking to The Wrap, executive producer Dave Wilson said he thought Reeves would exit the project at one point; the actor was then scheduled for motion capture at the studio.

“A few days before the shoot I got an email, and [Reeves] was like, ‘Hey, I’m a little injured,’” Wilson recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is the point where he backs out.’ But no, he was like, ‘I’m going to show up’ and went through everything. He shot for 13 hours straight to make sure we got everything we needed. It is so wonderful to know that there are the folks out there at the sort of apex of their fame and careers who are still willing to do things just for the love of making awesome material.”

He shot for 13 hours straight to make sure we got everything we needed.

The John Wick movies proved Reeves’ commitment to his roles; whether through physical or voice acting, he owned his parts and made them believable.

Keanu Reeves Has Played A Non-Playable Video Game Character Before

That’s why Reeves’ Cyberpunk 2077 character was so relatable. “I love storytelling, and I have a lot of friends who video game,” he told NPR in 2020. “When I was approached by CD Projekt Red [for Cyberpunk 2077], they kind of laid out the story of the game and the character that they were interested in me playing, a guy named Johnny Silverhand, who’s a bit of a rebel who’s kind of asking people to wake up.” Reeves reportedly recorded 45 hours of content for the game, on top of the motion capture sessions. He asserted then that he was already familiar with the process, having filmed similar scenes for The Matrix movies.

Wilson said Reeves joined late into Secret Level‘s development; most of the episodes already cast their voice ensembles. “Keanu actually came on, it was quite late in the series, and we had all the artwork up on the walls,” he told Games Radar. “So there weren’t that many episodes left to cast, and so then I would start getting videos from other actors, and I’m like, ‘[series creator] Tim [Miller], I don’t have any roles left.'” Miller said Reeves was up for any role, and it turned out he was a fan of Miller’s previous anthology series Love, Death & Robots.

Wilson confirmed Reeves is the same person on and offscreen. “You hear all the stories of how wonderful Keanu is, but often, it’s just a hype machine. And I can tell you without any exaggeration, he is the nicest person to work with. I mean, we only shoot for a day or two usually, but he shows up, prepped, ready to go. He’s just a fabulous human being.”