John Wick TV Series 'The Continental' In The Works, But Keanu Reeves Won't Play Lead Role
John Wick is headed to the small screen as a TV series based on the hit Keanu Reeves-led film franchise is coming to Starz.
During the Television Critics Association's winter press tour on Friday, Jan. 12, Starz announced that it is currently working on a spin-off drama series titled The Continental based on the action-packed film series.
Keanu Reeves Will Not Play The Lead
The network also revealed that although Reeves is set to reprise his role as John Wick in the upcoming TV series, he will not be playing the lead role.
Interestingly, the actor will be involved in the project not only in an acting capacity but will also serve as an executive producer along with Basil Iwanyk, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch, and Chad Stahelski who directed John Wick and its 2017 follow-up John Wick: Chapter 2.
Chris Collins, whose credits include The Man in the High Castle and The Wire, will serve as the showrunner and will also handle the series' writing duties.
Stahelski will helm the pilot episode of The Continental and will also be helming the upcoming third installment of the action-packed franchise. It has been given the working title Alpha Cop and is slated to hit theatres in 2019.
The Continental Plot
The series will be set in the same universe as the John Wick films. As the name suggests, it will focus on the assassin-friendly Continental Hotel, which serves as a sanctuary for assassins when they're not going around killing people.
"This series is truly unlike anything else on TV," Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said in a statement. "The Continental promises to include the thunderous fight sequences and intensely staged shootouts between professional assassins and their targets that fans have come to expect in the John Wick movie franchise as well as introduce some new, darkly compelling characters who inhabit this underground world."
The Continental will try to capitalize on a franchise that has delivered two blockbuster hits that have grossed a total of nearly $300 million at the worldwide box office.
Starz and Lionsgate Partnership
The John Wick spin-off series found a home on Starz because of the newly established affiliation between the premium cabler and Lionsgate. The studio, which acquired the network in late 2016, owns the rights to John Wick.
This isn't the first time Starz has acquired rights from Lionsgate for a small screen adaptation of a film. In August, the network announced that it was working on TV series based on the Lionsgate-owned Divergent series of films.
