John Wick Series Reveals New Lead Actor Replacing Keanu Reeves
The John Wick prequel officially has a lead cast.
This article is more than 2 years old
Derek Kolstad’s John Wick franchise is getting a lot of buzz over the announcement of its additions to the new lead cast roles for the upcoming prequel series coming to Starz. First announced early in 2017, the upcoming TV series recently reported that the three-episode special event series starring Mel Gibson and Colin Woodell has added more star-studded names into the lineup. Joining the cast will be Hubert Point-Du Jour (The Good Lord Bird) cast as Miles, Jessica Allain (The Laundromat) cast as Lou, Mishel Prada (Vida) cast as KD, Nhung Kate (The Housemaid) cast as Yen, and Ben Robson (Animal Kingdom) cast as Frankie.
The Continental will be set in 1975 before the events in the John Wick series as it explores the origin of the hotel for hitmen and assassins, a chain of hotels scattered across the world that act as a safe haven for assassins in the criminal underworld. The series will follow a young Winston Scott. The lead character will be played by Colin Woodell. The character was also played by Ian McShane in the film franchise as he traverses a dark New York City underworld. After a failed attempt to leave his grim past behind him, Scott will face New York’s most dangerous criminals as he attempts to seize the titular hotel.
Beginning with its release in 2014, the franchise has already produced three movies, John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3 (2019). It has also been confirmed that two more movies for the series are in the works. The fourth installment has a confirmed release date of May 27, 2022 while the fifth is still to be determined. Of the trilogy films already released, the franchise has seen immense success with a collective gross of over $580 million worldwide.
The diverse cast announced for the upcoming John Wick prequel will certainly have their work cut out in living up to fans’ high standards for the neo-noir series. There is already debate over the controversial casting of Mel Gibson as Cormac in the series, due to the actor’s controversial past of allegedly racial and anti-semitic remarks. However, the lead role casting of Colin Woodell is promising. The new John Wick star, Woodell, most recently appeared in the critically-acclaimed HBO Max series The Flight Attendant. His other TV credits include The Purge, The Originals, Masters of Sex, and Designated Survivor. Mischel Prada is best known for her portrayal of Emma Hernandez in the Starz hit series, Vida. Although she is a fairly young actress with few credits, she has already made a huge mark in the entertainment world.
The Continental stems from writers and executive producers Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward, who will also serve as showrunners. Chad Stahelski, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch, Shawn Simmons, Paul Wernick, and Rhett Reese all serve as executive producers for the John Wick prequel with Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee of Thunder Road Pictures also executive producing. There is yet to be a confirmed release date for this made-for-TV special, but it is slated to come out sometime next year.
