Today is the day The Continental limited series launches on Peacock in the U.S. and on Prime Video in the U.K.. Reviews are currently out for the John Wick series spin-off which occurs decades before the events of the Keanu Reeves-led franchise and has been a point of hype for fans still reeling from the fourth and latest installment of the film series which opened back in Spring.
Years and years ago I used to be obsessed with what my favorite fight scenes were in movies, and I would gauge this topic on my own time based on the performers, choreography, choreographers, style, and tone of the action, and even sometimes the length of the fight scene. One metric I also factored in was whether or not the fight scene would cut itself in between cuts from other climatic scenes in that film. Nowadays, it’s hard to even draw up a top ten as I’ve seen so many fight scenes, and so whenever I see a random post on social media asking followers what their favorite fight scene is from a film, I instantly pass.
Three movies in, and there are still big things in store for the John Wick saga, the latest of which involves upcoming prequel miniseries, The Continental, which is now moving from STARZ to Peacock for its premiere in the new year.
Filming on the fourth installment of the John Wick saga has already begun and with a cast that already bodes with promise. Late Tuesday, that roster got a little bigger with word actor and martial arts film star Scott Adkins is in talks a role in the hitman franchise, joining him with Keanu Reeves, Rina Sawayama, and Shamier Anderson, and screen action legends Hiroyuki Sanada and Donnie Yen.
There’s no question that a third chapter in the John Wick saga was in the works. After the riproaring second installment with John Wick: Chapter Two, it was only a matter of time before we would hear from its director, Chad Stahelski, who teased his involvement in the development of the film’s pending trilogical outing with an eye to direct.
For what it’s worth, that still appears to be the case while a new report from THR has otherwise confirmed the return of screenwriter Derek Kolstad to the table. It was he who helped bring the character to life for the 2014 breakout hit from Stahelski and then-directing partner David Leitch with actor Keanu Reeves in the title role.
The sequel, following the events of the first film in which former Russian mob enforcer, Wick, avenges his late wife’s legacy – slighted at the hands of his former boss’s sniveling son – is forced back into the seedy underworld of assassins when a blood oath ensnares him with a mission that ultimately seals his fate in a world run by killers with few friends to count on.
That film stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Ruby Rose, Common, John Leguizamo and Lawrence Fishburne with a cameo by actor Peter Stormare and is available on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K from Lionsgate. The next chapter is on the fast track toward a production start this Fall from Lionsgate with Basil Iwaynk returning to produce.
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