It’s a good day to be a John Wick fan.
Deadline reports that Ian McShane has finally signed on to reprise his role as Winston, the mysterious proprietor of the Continental Hotel, in John Wick: Chapter 4. The last movie left Winston at odds with Keanu Reeves‘ titular character, so I’m glad we’ll be able to see what happens between the two next.
But that’s not the only Winston news we received last week. The Hollywood Reporter exclusively revealed that director Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) has signed on to direct two episodes of The Continental, an upcoming series based on the hotel for assassins seen in the John Wick movies.
Continental was initially envisioned as spinoff series but has since been redeveloped as a three-night event series. Each episode will run for about 90 minutes in length and have budgets upwards of $20 million an instalment.
Continental is “set 40 years before the events of the Wick series and focuses on a young man named Winston. He will one day grow up to be the character played by Ian McShane in the Wick movies but in the prequel’s story is a young man starting as a hitman hotelier who, along with others, create a haven for unsavory types, all set against a backdrop of 1970s New York.”
So essentially, we will be getting a whole young Winston trilogy of films, but under the guise of a TV series. I’m sold.
Hughes will direct the first and third episode. A director has not yet been hired for the second episode.
Continental will premiere on Starz sometime in the next couple of years.
What do you think of the new direction the John Wick TV series is taking? Will you watch The Continental?
