John Wick TV series heads to Lionsgate, has a title and could see Keanu Reeves appear too

We make no secret of our love for John Wick and its sequel and we’ve already made it clear that we really hope the third installment will further develop the world Keanue Reeves’ Wick inhabits as it’s a interesting as any superhero universe on screen right now (here).

However, it seems that, rather excitingly, it’s not just the movies that will make the world bigger.

Now director and creator Chad Stahelski (and screenwriting partner Derek Kolstad) are working on a prequel TV series at Lionsgate and, at the minute, it looks like it’ll be called The Continental, named after the hotel that protects and harbours assassins in the movies.

“They’ve got a really good structure,” Stahelski said.

“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.”

Excitingly though, The Contninental, unlike such series as Taken, will not focus on Wick, but the characters that inhabit and flesh out his world: “I like telling stories from my one character’s perspective,” Stahelski said.

“Once you put that aside with the TV show, [you can] expand to all the different characters and follow them throughout their journey. You can be with the consigliere, concierge, the sommelier — you can be with all these different characters and walk through the world in different aspects; ones that I’m a little limited [from exploring] by staying with my lead guy.”

That said, while it’s not Wick’s show, Stahelski seems confident that Keanu Reeves would likely appear in the show: “I think he would make an appearance,. I think that’s part of his thing, [But the series] isn’t centered around John Wick.”

He also said that he wants to stay involved as the show develops and would be keen to direct some episodes but he is very focused on directing the third movie instalment at the minute.

 

With the core character, John Wick, remaining primarily on the big screen, we reckon it’s a very clever idea to have the series run independently, yet still be connected, to that world… this is one expanded universe we can’t wait to see evolve.

And that has us wondering if the upcoming Atomic Blonde movie is the same cinematic universe too; it certainly looks like it is.

What say you all? Is this welcome news? Let us know…