The idea of a story about Winston Scott, the charismatic hotel master of the John Wick films, is great. As played by the unmatched Ian McShane, Winston is slippery, wise, fascinating—a man who’s clearly seen some things, and has more stories that he will ever tell.
The reality, alas, is less appealing. Would you like clunky, clichéd dialogue and the unfortunate casting of Mel Gibson? Then perhaps this is your show.
Here’s the synopsis:
The three-part event will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.
(I left the weird spelling of Hell-scape alone for your reading pleasure.)
This Winston hardly looks old enough to have a past “he thought he’d left behind.” Colin Woodell is trying, but has a troubling lack of gravitas. As the man himself says, a suit doesn’t make a man—and neither does a cravat. Or, for that matter, repeating the “lots of guns” line that our pal John Wick says to the elder Winston.
A young Charon (Lance Reddick in the films) is also here, played by Ayomide Adegun; the rest of the cast includes Peter Greene, Ben Robson, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Jessica Allain, Mishel Prada and Nhung Kate. Three men are primarily responsible for this: developers, executive producers, and writers Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward and Shawn Simmons (Ken Kristensen is also a writer). Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) directed the first and third episodes; Charlotte Brandstrom (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) took the middle piece of this three-part miniseries.
It seems like maybe we’re now meant to call this show The Continental: From the World of John Wick, but that’s an unwieldy mouthful. At any rate, it’s streaming on Peacock starting September 22.
This post was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
