Posted in: Preview, Starz, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, john wick, keanu reeves, spinoff, starz, streaming, television, the continental, tv

"John Wick" Spinoff Series "The Continental" Still on STARZ's Radar Post-4th Film

People keep asking STARZ if John Wick is coming back, and the cable channel hasn't really had an answer. But yeah, STARZ is thinking John Wick is back.

Just not any time soon… and probably not actually him… but just go with  it…

STARZ President and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch updated fans on spinoff series The Continental during their turn at the Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press event, confirming that the project is still on track to debut some time after the fourth film opens on May 21, 2021 – and that the cabler likes the writers currently working on the series:

"I had a meeting on a season pitch for this yesterday. We like the group of writers, and we're trying to get it in the right place so it doesn't interfere with the motion picture. It will air sometime after the fourth movie."

Back in June 2017, Lionsgate TV confirmed work on John Wick prequel series The Continental. For those new to the John Wick universe (and keeping things old-school general as to not spoiler anything), The Continental is the chain of hotels around the world that provides a neutral ground for assassins where no "work" gets done on the premises and those who break the rules are "reprimanded" severely. This series is meant to explore the hotel chain's early days.

Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch revealed at the network's Television Critics Association (TCA) press event in July  2019 that The Continental won't be on-air until at least late 2021 – putting it well after the May 2021 premiere of the fourth film.

"My sense is that where we are today the movie date has been set but we're still in early development on the series so [it will air] most likely after."

STARZ acquired the series project in Janaury 2018, with Chris Collins set to write and serve as showrunner and Chad Stahelski directing. Members of the film franchise set to executive produce the series include Stahelski, Collins, Keanu Reeves, Thunder Road Pictures' Basil Iwanyk, film franchise screenwriter Derek Kolstad, and David Leitch.

Speaking of Reeves… the logical question to ask would be if Reeves would be involved in the series in front of the camera. The answer from Hirsch? A very vague one…

"That's a really good question that I'm not going to answer. No answer is as good a tease you're going to get. It's a great franchise, we're exciting about bringing that show to the network."

At the time of the initial series development announcement, Stahelksi explained how the premise opens-up a ton of possibilities:

"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."

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