John Wick Trying Another TV Series After The Continental Didn’t Spark Fans
After The Continental premiered last fall to mediocre reviews, Lionsgate is trying again to bring the world of John Wick to the small screen. During a Q&A session at the Morgan Stanley media conference, Michael Burns, the company’s Vice Chairman, disclosed plans to make another spin-off of the franchise.
“I think we’ll take one of our great action franchises starring Keanu Reeves, I think it’ll be a television series,” Burns remarked. However, he didn’t disclose any further details about the project or whether or not Reeves himself would be starring as John Wick in the series.
The Continental Spin-Off Series
The John Wick spin-off series comes on the heels of the prequel, The Continental, which comprised three one-and-a-half-hour films. The Continental is an American neo-noir crime-action drama TV miniseries, developed by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, and Shawn Simmons. Set in an alternate history 1970s, it narrates the origin tale of Winston Scott and how he ascended to his role as the proprietor of the New York branch of “The Continental” chain of hotels, which serve as secure sanctuaries for licensed assassins, where no business of any kind is permitted to occur on their premises.
Mel Gibson Lead The Series
Coolidge and Ward took on the roles of showrunners of the John Wick spin-off and collaborated with Simmons and Ken Kristensen on the scripts. Albert Hughes directed the first and third episodes, while Charlotte Brändström directed the second. Starring Mel Gibson and Colin Woodell, the show debuted on September 22, 2023, on Peacock in the United States and internationally on Amazon Prime Video.
“We struck a relatively short-term deal for that series with Peacock and Amazon,” Burns commented on the three-part event, which debuted in October as Peacock’s most successful original launch of 2023. However, while the series managed to bring in viewership from the John Wick fan base, the show accumulated only mediocre reviews.
The Continental Has Mixed Reviews
According to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Continental: From the World of John Wick holds a 63 percent approval rating based on 77 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8 out of 10. The site’s consensus states that the series offers stylish action, though its appeal is primarily to dedicated fans seeking further expansion of the franchise. Metacritic assigned the show a score of 53 out of 100.
Mel Gibson’s Casting Was Controversial
Movie critic Angie Han from The Hollywood Reporter found The Continental decent overall but criticized Mel Gibson’s casting. She appreciated the chemistry among the cast and the introduction of intriguing character backstories adding to the John Wick universe. However, she felt the show’s format was awkward, being too lengthy for a film yet too brief for a satisfying series, with budget constraints limiting the city’s depiction and the fight scenes falling short of film standards.
Ballerina
The Continental marked the first John Wick spin-off and will soon be followed by Ballerina, a movie scheduled for release in 2025. While the details of the newly announced spin-off have yet to be disclosed, it can be assumed that, like the rest of the John Wick universe, the series will be filled with intense and meticulously choreographed fight sequences, slick cinematography, and deep world-building.
