John Wick (Keanu Reeves) may be dead officially, but that won’t stop his friend and mentor from returning in a different form. New images of a young Winston Scott (Colin Woodell) have been released ahead of a television prequel titled The Continental.
The John Wick franchise first blew up in 2014 when the wrong person crossed the hitman -- and his poor puppy. Created by Reeves' stunt double, Chad Stahelski, the action movie started a tidal wave of films surrounding the impressive feats the actor could pull off. John Wick 4 seemingly saw the franchise end when the assassin appeared to have died. Stahelski has gone back and forth on a John Wick 5, but in the meantime, fans can satiate their appetite with a television show set in the same universe.
Following a young Winston before he was the manager of the assassin hotel, The Continental will be a '70s-era version of the successful franchise. Peacock published an early look at a fashionable Winston in the art deco of the iconic elevator. "It's about 30 to 40 years prior to when the films take place. We have all the producers from the films, so we have them overseeing and there is a really strict continuity to honour those and the style that they have in them," Woodell said (via GamesRadar+). "But what's also wonderful is, this is the '70s, so it is going to be stylistically different.”
In addition to Winston, viewers can get a closer look at new characters in the set of photos. Among some are Ayomide Adegun taking over for the late Lance Reddick as Charon, and Mel Gibson, who appears as the current manager of The Continental, Cormac. The stylized prequel will undoubtedly portray how Winston climbed up the ladder to be the man in charge of the establishment. Many questions surround the series, including how it plans to pull this off.
The risk that any prequel runs into is fitting into the continuity of the beloved franchise it is taking from. If anything has taught us this, it is Star Wars' habit of consistently setting events around the few generations influenced by Order 66. Luckily for John Wick, the job should be a little bit easier. John Wick excels at demonstrating the best fighting and saying little. The John Wick IP shouldn't be hurt by a prequel, especially since the show will not be about Winston, not the young days of John.
Fans know surprisingly little about Winston before he took over as hotel manager. Fans only see that he is a mercurial man at worst and an ally to John at best. What made him -- for all intents and purposes -- a father figure full of tough love for John? Fans will undoubtedly learn when The Continental hits television screens.
The Continental will premiere on September 22, 2023, on Peacock.
Source: Peacock, GamesRadar+