TAGGED AS: based on movie, Starz
The creators of John Wick never expected to have a franchise. The first film was designed to be the directorial debut of stunt and second unit directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. But audiences loved Keanu Reeves’ titular assassin character and the world he inhabits so much that the franchise just released its fourth film and a three-part prequel miniseries set in the John Wick world — minus Reeves, though — is expected in September.
The event is called The Continental: From the World of John Wick, named after the hotel for assassins featured in the films. Rules at the Continental stipulate that no “work” can be done on Continental grounds — no killing! John Wick broke that rule in Chapter 2 by killing the man who forced him back into the life, while Chapter 3 saw John on the run and New York Continental manager Winston Scott (Ian McShane) facing repercussions for letting him go.
Plans for The Continental have evolved since Starz first announced the series before it moved to Peacock. On April 12, Peacock released a teaser trailer for The Continental that confirmed some of the information previously teased. Now that John Wick: Chapter 4 is out, here’s everything we know about The Continental so far.
(Photo by Peacock)
Official series description from Peacock:
The three-part event will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.
Starz first announced The Continental at the January 2018 Television Critics Association press tour. Lionsgate, the distributor of the John Wick films, bought Starz in 2016, but, reportedly, a shift in programming strategy pushed the event series off of the cable network.
The Continental now will premiere in September on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, streaming home to the John Wick films. (Note: Rotten Tomatoes is also a division of NBCUniversal.)
(Photo by Lionsgate; Jerritt Clark/WireImage; Morgan Lieberman/FilmMagic)
The Continental stars Mel Gibson (Cormac), Colin Woodell (Winston Scott), Mishel Prada (KD), Ben Robson (Frankie), Hubert Point-Du Jour (Miles), Nhung Kate (Yen), Jessica Allain (Lou), Ayomide Adegun (Charon), Jeremy Bobb (Mayhew), and Peter Greene (Uncle Charlie).
The teaser trailer shows a montage of the cast, some arriving at the front door, some sitting in the bar.
Katie McGrath, Ray McKinnon, Mark Musashi, and Marina Mazepa were announced in February. Lionsgate confirmed to Rotten Tomatoes they will appear as guest stars.
(Photo by David Lee/Lionsgate)
Lance Reddick’s sudden death at age 60 on March 17 shook the John Wick family, Hollywood, and fans. His character, Continental concierge Charon, will appear in the series as a young man played by Adegun, while Woodell plays the young Winston, previously announced as the lead of the 1975-set show. Also, given the New York Continental’s fate in John Wick 4, fans will be happy to see it in its original glory.
Early plans for The Continental would have introduced a new assassin in the world of the hotel. Stahelski originally told Rotten Tomatoes, “There’s a whole new cast coming aboard for that and that hasn’t been seen before,” which remains true, but two of them are now the young incarnations of Winston and Charon. In an interview with Deadline, Lionsgate Television Chairman Kevin Beggs offered an update on the John Wick TV series, including setting it in 1970s New York. The teaser confirms the ’70s.
“What we’re exploring in The Continental is the young Winston and how it came to be that he and his team of confederates found their way into this hotel,” Beggs told Deadline. “[The Continental is] about a crumbling New York in the 1970s with a garbage strike that has piled up bags of garbage to the third floor of most brownstones, the mafia muscling in on that business which is why in The Sopranos he’s in the sanitation business. And other things that are really real as an interesting backdrop to explore the origins of The Continental.”
McGrath (Supergirl’s Lena Luthor) plays an adjudicator, like Asia Kate Dillon in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum; Greene (The Mask and Pulp Fiction villain) dons the fedora of Uncle Charlie (based on the tight-lipped body disposal expert); Robson is Frankie; Point-Du Jour is Miles; Allain is Lou; Prada is KD; and Kate is Yen.
The Continental is expected to be in post-production now. Lee also told Collider that the three episodes will balance character and action. The premiere will open with a bang, though; Lee said the middle chapter is more character focused, while the first and third are action-packed. The teaser shows some of that gunplay, martial arts and swordplay fitting in with the John Wick series’ use of exotic weapons.
(Photo by David Lee/©Summit Entertainment)
While the creators focused on making movies, Lionsgate and Starz presented the possibility to expand the franchise into the television realm as well following the success of John Wick: Chapter 2. Stahelski agreed, and the franchise creators started expanding the world of The Continental in the films.
“When we finished the first one, we thought we’d never work again,” Stahelski said. “We were looking for day jobs. Then when we were asked to do the second one, that’s when we put the thinking caps on. We did what we wanted to and what we had in mind for the first movie. It wasn’t until developing the second film that all the thought really went into it.”
Lee told Collider the series would address the Continental staff like the cleaners, other staff members and how they make the gold coins like the ones Wick uses to buy his wares. The teaser shows that signature gold coin too as a hand passes it across the counter.
Behind the scenes of The Continental:
• Developed, written and executive produced by: Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, Shawn Simmons
• Writers: Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, Shawn Simmons
• Executive producers: Thunder Road Pictures’ Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, Albert Hughes, Kirk Ward, Greg Coolidge, Chad Stahelski, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch, Shawn Simmons, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese and Marshall Persinger
• Directors: Albert Hughes (Parts 1 & 3), Charlotte Brandstrom (Part 2)
• Studio: Lionsgate
