The John Wick film franchise is continuing to expand, this time to television. The series has had a prequel series titled The Continental in development for quite some time, but it’s now been revealed that the spin-off will be headed to television. Not only that, but it will now actually be a 3-part event series, with each part being a feature length installment.
As explained by THR:
“Continental, which is set in the unique hotel for assassins in the Wick movies, was initially envisioned as spinoff series but was redeveloped as a three-night event series with movie length and movie budgets. The installments are to run about 90 minutes in length and, according to sources, have budgets upwards of $20 million.”
What’s more, they were able to describe some of the story details for The Continental, which will be a prequel to the John Wick films set during the 1970s.
“A prequel spinoff, Continental is set 40 years before the events of the Wick series and focuses on a young man named Winston. He will one day grow up to be the character played by Ian McShane in the Wick movies but in the prequel’s story is a young man starting as a hitman hotelier who, along with others, create a haven for unsavory types, all set against a backdrop of 1970s New York.”
While it’s unknown who will be directing the middle part of the series, Albert Hughes will be directing the first and third installments. As for those returning from the films to work on the limited event series:
“Many members of the film franchise are involved, with Basil Iwanyk of Thunder Road, original screenwriter Derek Kolstad and franchise director Chad Stahelski exec producing. (Stahelski was slated to direct the premiere episode when Continental was to have been a series.) David Leitch is also an exec producer while Reeves is in talks to exec produce, as well.”
The Continental is definitely developing into an exciting prequel for the John Wick film series. Hopefully we’ll have more details on the limited event series soon.