Lionsgate’s ‘John Wick’ Prequel Series To Debut On Peacock In 2023

Universal and Lionsgate are announcing a deal to bring the much-discussed John Wick prequel television spin-off The Continental to Peacock. The 1970s-set origin story of the Continental Hotel, a centerpiece location for the Keanu Reeves-led action franchise, will debut exclusively on Peacock sometime in 2023 alongside the currently available John Wick trilogy. Those films, John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, have earned $575 million worldwide on a combined $110 million budget, with a fourth chapter opening on March 24, 2023. It’s a smart ‘get’ for the service, not just because the John Wick trilogy remains among Peacock’s most watched movies.

I do not know if anyone cares about a three-part, Albert Hughes-directed prequel miniseries, with Charlotte Brändström directing the middle installment) starring Colin Woodell as a younger version of Ian McShane’s Winston Scott. Nonetheless, its existence will guarantee a decent amount of free media for the platform. Lionsgate raised eyebrows last October for adding Mel Gibson in a supporting role. Gibson has made a handful of grindhouse actioners of varying quality (Get the Gringo, Blood Father, Dragged Across Concrete, Force of Nature, Boss Level, Last Looks, etc.) that play to at least some direct-to-VOD/DVD action movie demographics. Since so many ‘big’ streaming projects are more talked about than watched, catching one that’s guaranteed to inspire online discourse is a win.

The Continental will co-star Ayomide Adegun, who will play a young version of Lance Reddick’s Charon. That tracks but also highlights that Lionsgate and friends missed the obvious hook for a John Wick television show. The winning pitch seemed to be an anthology show set within the Continental and centered on Riddick’s Charon playing a kind of Rod Serling/Alfred Hitchcock to the various action/thriller/black comedy tales loosely connected to the John Wick universe. I’ll watch The Continental as it exists because I like the Hughes brothers and because it’s my job. But I would have devoured a “Tales of the Continental” type show.

Of course, if many folks (relative to Peacock’s expectations) watch this prequel miniseries, then maybe Lionsgate will give us Charon’s Way or Charon Presents as a complementary series. It would be nice if Hollywood’s insistence on turning every vaguely successful film franchise into a television spin-off resulted in shows that looked, felt and played like actual television shows as opposed to ‘a miniseries that should have been a 135-minute movie.’ That said, The Continental is whatever it is, and it’s not like I didn’t devour the four-part Canadian Robocop: Prime Directives movies in the early 2000s. God, I’m old.