So far the world of John Wick has consisted of four movies, all revolving around Keanu Reeves’ titular character. That finally changes this September with the release of The Continental, a three-part miniseries for Peacock subscribers focusing on the origins of Winston Scott, who’s been played in the present day by Ian McShane, and whose 1970s self will be brought to life by Colin Woodell. Although a teaser for The Continental dropped back in May, the first full trailer for this prequel tale has arrived, and along with teasing how Winston took control of the assassin hotel, it includes a dynamite John Wick callback.
Let’s start off with the callback first. Back in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, the New York branch of The Continental was temporarily deconsecrated when Winston refused to abdicate and John refused to kill his ally on behalf of The Elder. As such, before armed goons in service to The High Table arrived, John told Winston that he needed “guns… lots of guns” so that they could properly defend himself. Of course, those are the exact same words that were said 20 years earlier in The Matrix, another movie starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, but in The Continental’s case, hearing Winston say them in a desperate time of need more nicely in relation to Parabellum. As a bonus, it’s also a nice wink to hear Winston say at the end of the trailer, “And away we go,” which is what he uttered at the start of Parabellum when the doubled bounty on John was activated.
As for the The Continental’s plot, this trailer indicates that the craziness kicks off when Winston is tasked by Mel Gibson’s Cormac, who is the proprietor of the New York’s Continental when the miniseries starts, to retrieve something that Winston’s brother took from him, or else he’ll suffer the consequences. In this criminal underworld of such colorful killers, bounty hunters, etc, a mission like that will hardly be simple to pull off, but it’s also not Winston’s endgame. We know that eventually The Continental will end up under his control, and this miniseries will show us how he ultimately is able to take hold of this “kingdom,” as McShane’s version of the character referred to it in Chapter 2. Oh, and let’s not forget what’s arguably the biggest reveal in this trailer: Winston’s wearing a cravat, not an ascot!
Of course, Winston won’t be the only familiar character appearing in The Continental. We’ll also meet younger versions of Charon and Uncle Charlie, respectively played by Ayomide Aden and Peter Greene. With Charon having been so loyal to Winston up until he was killed in John Wick: Chapter 4, I’m interested to learn what goes down in the prequel series that results in this loyalty forming. The Continental’s cast also includes Mishel Prada, Ben Robson, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Nhung Kate, Jessica Allain, Jeremy Bobb, Katie McGrath and Ben Robson, among many others.
The first episode of The Continental premieres on Peacock Friday, September 22, which Episode 2 following on September 29 and Episode 3 rounding out the miniseries on October 6. Keep your eyes peeled on CinemaBlend for more news about this corner of the John Wick franchise, and don’t forget that this universe will also be expanding with Ballerina, the spinoff slated for a June 7 release on the 2024 movies calendar.
