When ‘John Wick’ fans can expect spin-off ‘The Continental’ to hit streaming

‘John Wick: Chapter 4′ hits theatres today, with strong numbers at the international box office suggesting fans are still enthralled by the action-packed assassin thriller franchise.

Given the franchise’s popularity, it’s no surprise Lionsgate are looking to develop the ‘John Wick’ universe with multiple prequels.

What ‘The Continental’ will focus on

One of those prequels is ‘The Continental’, which will take fans back to New York in the 1970s.

The hotel where assassins can find shelter and gather supplies, The Continental is a key place in the ‘John Wick’ franchise.

While each new film takes viewers to a new Continental, the main establishment is the one found in New York and managed by Winston Scott (Ian McShane), with Charon (Lance Reddick) as concierge.

Producer Erica Lee explained some of the plot points of the show, and why they opted for a prequel rather a show set in the same timeline as the movie franchise.

“It’s young Winston and young Lance Reddick, young Charon,” said Lee in an interview with Collider. “The showrunners actually came, we heard a lot of pitches and we were debating whether or not we wanted to do a similar timeline of John Wick or an alternate timeline.

“We felt like doing a prequel, doing an alternate timeline gave us a lot of flexibility just in running parallel tracks. But also what I think people love so much about John Wick and the ‘John Wick’ world are learning about the hotels and the Easter eggs.

“We give so little about each character and about the hotel in each movie that I think people were really excited to learn more and dig deeper into The Continental like, what does the cleaner there look like? What is the staff like? How do you get into The Continental? How are the gold coins made?

“So, with this timeline and this setting, we’re allowed to do a really deep dive into that and explore a lot of that stuff.”

When ‘The Continental’ will hit streaming

Although there has been no official release date for ‘The Continental’, Lee did add the series, which will air on Peacock, should arrive in September.

‘The Continental’ will have three 90-minute episodes, meaning each chapter will be a mini-movie, with no time jumps between chapters.