John Wick TV series The Continental is a gritty prequel about young Winston

Nw details about the John Wick TV show, The Continental, have been revealed, including whether Keanu Reeves will make an appearance.

In a recent interview with Deadline, the Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs revealed the new prequel series will center on a younger version of Ian McShane’s Winston.

"What we’re exploring in The Continental is the young Winston and how it came to be that he and his team of confederates found their way into this hotel which we have met for the first time in the movie franchise 40 years later," Beggs shared while explaining the direction of the series set to expand the Joh Wick universe. Unfortunately, this means there will be no appearances from Keanu Reeves, but the actor is in talks to be an executive producer.

The series will be set in '70s New York City, the same location as one of the major places in the John Wick trilogy, The Continental. The assassins' hotel has one rule that you can't kill anyone when within its grounds. Reportedly the studio took many pitches for the spin-off series, but the one that won was from the creative team behind a show called Wayne on Youtube. Beggs also mentioned how the series took inspiration from the hit HBO series The Sopranos.

Beggs went on share the elevator pitch for the series saying, "...a crumbling New York in the 1970s with a garbage strike that has piled up bags of garbage to the third floor of most brownstones, the mafia muscling in on that business which is why in The Sopranos he’s in the sanitation business, and other things that are really real as an interesting backdrop to explore the origins of The Continental..."

The Continental is currently slated to air on Starz after John Wick 4 debuts next year on May 27, 2022. So, you have to wait a bit, but for now, you can check out our list of the best summer movies to hold you over.

Stephanie is a comic book historian and pop culture critic for publications including SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy. She recently made her DC Comics debut in Wonder Woman Black and Gold #2 and is co-writing the Nubia and the Amazons miniseries.