John Wick has proven itself not once, but twice to be a commercial success on the silver screen. Keanu Reeves’ portrayal of the charismatic assassin who strikes fear into the hearts of the most hardened criminals is outstanding, and so is the noir comic book-like action scenes with a kill count that continues to climb steadily as the movies progress. One thing that I find ironic in the first movie is, Iosef has absolutely no idea who John Wick is. Is he that protected to grow up to be a criminal douchebag? Back to John Wick -- he is getting his very own TV series, simply because he can. And he deserves it, too. The John Wick TV series has also picked up a name for itself, having been aptly titled as ‘The Continental’.
Since Hollywood is big on franchises at the moment, and it can be rather difficult to break out with a new franchise for the existing generation, why not take a working formula and make it bigger and better? John Wick has certainly ingrained himself in the psyches of moviegoers everywhere, and many people are speculating on how John Wick 3 will end, being the final part of the trilogy where John has an hour’s head start over the rest of the world’s assassins simply because he broke the cardinal rule at ‘The Continental’ -- conducting ‘business’ on its premises. John promised to “kill them all”, and it would be interesting to see how he squares up with the best assassins on the planet. Back to the TV series, it would be remiss to say that a John Wick TV series is not going to be big.
In fact, can we even venture far enough to say that a John Wick TV series is compulsory? After all, there is plenty of potential for a back story, not to mention explaining how the world of assassins function. What are those gold coins worth on the open market, and what kind of service can you get for a gold coin? From the movies, we do know that it can get you a room at The Continental, a meal at a restaurant, a couple of drinks by the bar, or even to clean up dead bodies at the murder scene to get rid of all evidence.
Lionsgate is going to be the one behind the John Wick TV series, where it will be known as The Continental. The Continental is actually the hotel which was featured in both John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2, and we are quite sure that the hotel will continue to be a mainstay in the final movie in the trilogy. Director Chad Stahelski has shed some light on the TV series, citing that it would be the perfect platform for viewers to know more about the other secondary characters in that world.
Stahelski shared, "They've got a really good structure. It's very tied to the film [in that] it's about the Continentals all over the world, how certain people come into that world, and what happens in relation to those people, which is cool. I think the world is very vast, and everything I've heard from it is very positive. [...] It's something that studio seems very, very intent on [making] and very, very behind... You can be with the consigliere, concierge, the sommelier, you can be with all these different characters and walk through the world in different aspects; ones that I'm a little limited [from exploring] by staying with my lead guy."
Will John himself make an appearance? Perhaps, or perhaps not. A lot of it hinges on Keanu Reeves’ timetable, and we do know that the closest reference of a TV series which we can get to with The Continental would be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that explores the lives of minor characters from the Avengers movie.
