The Continental: Release Date and Cast Everything You Need To Know About The John Wick Series

The Continental the television spin-off of John Wick is a reality and promises to take the action saga to a new level. This was promised by Kevin Beggs, the president of Lionsgate Television who offered revealing details about the series that will be a prequel that takes place 40 years before the films starring Keanu Reeves who is already filming John Wick 4 but will not appear in the production that will hit the small screen.

In an interview with Deadline, Beggs anticipated that the series will be focused on the character of Winston (masterfully played in the cinema by Ian McShane) and will take place in New York City in the 1970s. “What we are exploring at The Continental is the story of young Winston and how he and his team of accomplices came to this hotel that we first met in the film franchise 40 years later,” Beggs explained. While it had been confirmed that the legendary actor would not appear in The Continental it is highly likely that the British will return as the narrator of this new story.

Mel Gibson Confirmed as Lead

It has been announced that Mel Gibson will be the lead of The Continental being the first confirmed actor for the play. According to the Deadline report, Gibson will play a character named Cormac, so he will not take the role of Winston possibly being an ally or a villain (the latter being more likely considering the actor’s background).

More Than Just a Hotel

If you’ve seen the John Wick saga you’ll know that The Continental is more than just a hotel. This site is a chain of hotels located around the world that functions as a neutral territory for members of the criminal underworld. Its insides are full of notorious hitmen and assassins. The The Continental is located in New York City is owned by Winston, a close friend of John Wick and a ruthless enforcer of the rules of the hotel.

Lionsgate saw enough potential to materialize a production focused on developing the history of this place beyond the cinematographic deliveries. Although it made public its intentions to make this series four years ago for the first time, the studio took very easy the selection of those responsible for the realization.

Now, Lionsgate has announced that it has finally settled on the creative team behind Wayne a YouTube series created by Shawn Simmons about a teenager trying to recover the car stolen by his murdered father. “We went through a lot of submissions, until the creative team for this dark little show called Wayne that was released on YouTube came to us with their own,” Begss said. “We were really impressed because it solved a lot of problems and it was very exciting. It even reminds me of The Sopranos.”

The plot will be set in a crumbling New York in the 1970s, with a garbage strike that has garbage bags piling up to the third floor of some buildings. The mafia has decided to take over this situation. This will be the backdrop to explore the origin of The Continental the lair of the most ruthless murderers and criminals of all.

Beggs also anticipated more details about the first season that will have a rather unique structure, as it will essentially be approached as three 90-minute events (episodes) which could come to be seen as a miniseries.

“(John Wick) He has such a great mythology and such interesting style, with his gun fu approach to this incredibly poetic stunt aesthetics so out of this world, that he just claims to be something on television. Just like the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe have seen incredible opportunities from a television perspective, our superhero franchise in the family will also have it, “said Beggs.

Keanu Reeves Will Not Be Part Of The Continental

While this first preview of the series sounds quite promising, fans of the series will have to deal with the fact that Keanu Reeves is not in the pipeline to appear in the John Wick spin-off. In addition to this story taking place long before the events of John Wick and even before Baba Yaga begins writing his legend, Beggs said that The Continental has no plans to guide his way to that part of the story, so the actor will not be contemplated.

However, Reeves is in talks to be an executive producer on the series. “We are in the John Wick universe but we are far back in time. Let’s think about the Game of Thrones prequels before meeting the protagonists that we all know, here you know ‘the world’. Keanu and Chad Stahelski (director of the trilogy) have read all the drafts and enthusiastically supported the expansion of this universe in a significant way. So I never discount anything, but at this point he is quite busy making his films that are very important to us. ” The Continental is expected to premiere in late 2021 following the release of John Wick 4 in theaters.