TV The Continental (John Wick spinoff)

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,693
117,573
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
John Wick TV Series Confirmed by Starz and Lionsgate

They are not fucking around with this. Everyone behind it is top shelf talent, not to mention Starz has been making some excellent shows lately.

President & CEO Chris Albrecht announced today at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter 2018 Press Tour that Starz and Lionsgate are developing a television series adaptation of the highly successful Lionsgate film franchise John Wick. The Continental series will be set in the John Wick universe, focusing on the inner workings of the exclusive Continental Hotel which serves as a refuge for assassins.

Acclaimed writer/producer Chris Collins (Sons of Anarchy, The Wire, and The Man in the High Castle) will write the series and serve as showrunner. The show will be executive produced by a world-class creative team led by Thunder Road Pictures’ Basil Iwanyk (the John Wick film franchise, The Town, Sicario), Chad Stahelski (John Wick co-director and John Wick: Chapter 2 director), John Wick franchise screenwriter Derek Kolstad, along with Collins, David Leitch (John Wick co-director, Deadpool 2) and Keanu Reeves. Stahelski will direct the premiere episode.
 

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,693
117,573
Elgin
Real Name
Mike

Ian McShane has said he will not be reprising his role as assassin hotel owner Winston in The Continental, the John Wick TV series that’s been in development for years at Lionsgate and Starz. But though McShane won’t be in it, his character definitely will be.

Kevin Beggs, the chairman of Lionsgate TV, has revealed that The Continental is going to be a John Wick prequel that follows a younger version of Winston in the 1970s and explores “the origins of The Continental” hotel itself. And it sounds like they’re taking the BBC Sherlock approach here, with The Continental season 1 consisting of three 90-minute episodes.

Beggs spoke with Deadline about what fans can expect when the John Wick universe series eventually makes its way to the small screen.

“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 which we have met for the first time in the movie franchise 40 years later,” he said. “That’s the arena. I won’t give away more than that, but Starz really leaned into this take also, and they have been great collaborators. And how we’ve approached this first season is as three essentially 90-minute events, which you could construe as a limited series or a limited event series.” There’s no casting news about who might play Young Winston yet.

He explained that Lionsgate TV fielded a lot of pitches for the project, but the creative team “from this obscure little show called Wayne that was on YouTube” blew away the brass with their idea for the show. Like Todd Phillips’ Joker, The Continental will be set against the backdrop of 1970s New York City, “with a garbage strike that has piled up bags of garbage to the third floor of most brownstones, [and] the mafia muscling in on that business,” Beggs said.

Several years ago, it was announced that franchise star Keanu Reeves was going to be appearing in this show. But now Beggs says that’s not the case, and that because the show is a prequel, Wick “is not finding his way” into the action. Instead, Reeves is in talks to executive produce the series, and he and director Chad Stahelski “have read every draft and been enthusiastic supporters of expanding this universe in a meaningful way.” Last we heard, Stahelski was attached to direct the pilot for Starz.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpeedSpeak2me

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,693
117,573
Elgin
Real Name
Mike

Albert Hughes, one half of the directing duo behind films like The Book of Eli and Menace II Society, is overseeing two episodes of The Continental, which has been redeveloped from a full prequel show into a three-night event. Each installment will reportedly now run around 90 minutes and get budgets north of $20 million.
 

Mook

Mr. Manager
Staff member
Admin
May 23, 2007
206,693
117,573
Elgin
Real Name
Mike
Man, /Film went on a real rant here.


If you need proof that God is dead, look no further. Deadline reports that actual garbage human Mel Gibson has been cast as the lead in the "John Wick" prequel series, "The Continental." After the fourth John Wick movie kept on adding beloved actor after beloved actor, the pendulum was bound to swing the other way at some point. But good grief. A classy franchise built around Keanu Reeves doesn't deserve this kind of nonsense.
 

VenomInside

Just Grazing
Jul 16, 2004
25,980
3,791
SAC/DEN/SFO/CHI/SEA/PDX
keanu reeves film GIF


this makes me sad.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info