Filmmaker Chad Stahelski helmed the four John Wick movies, all of which have been huge critical and commercial successes. The first big screen spin-off, Ballerina, is now playing in theaters, and the movie (which includes a cameo appearance from Keanu Reeves' assassin) is off to a strong start.
In contrast, The Continental: From the World of John Wick TV series on Peacock drew mixed reviews and came and went without leaving much of a lasting impact. It boasted a solid cast, including Mel Gibson and Colin Woodell, but Winston Scott's early years lacked that John Wick magic.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter (via ActioNewz.com), Stahelski confirmed that neither he nor Reeves were closely involved with the show...and that he wasn't a fan of what The Continental tried to be.
"Keanu and I were — I wouldn’t say sidelined, but our opinion was heard and not really noted. [The studio] tried to convince me they knew what they were doing. A group of individuals thought they had the magic sauce. But if you take out Basil Iwanyk’s producing intuitiveness, if you take out Keanu’s way of delivering quirky dialogue and if you take out all the visuals I have in my head from Wong Kar-wai, anime, Leone, Bernardo Bertucci or Andrei Tchaikovsky...then it’s not the same thing. They thought this was as easy as using anamorphic lenses, do a kooky hotel, put in weird dialogue, and insert crime drama."
"If you saw our process, you’d be like, 'You’re telling me this billion dollar franchise does it this way?' I’m scouting my next film in London and we saw a cool location yesterday which totally changed the second act. We rewrote the whole thing. I find great cast members and rewrite their parts constantly. That’s what makes [the movies] so good and organic — we’re constantly upgrading. But the studio likes to know what they’re getting for their buck and want to lock a script for budget reasons. While we’re saying, “Just write the check, we’ll see you at the finish line."
Looking to the future, it appears the John Wick franchise will remain in theaters as another spin-off is on the way, this time centred around Caine. However, don't expect another cameo appearance from Reeves.
"The Donny Yen spinoff doesn’t have the John Wick character," Stahelski confirmed. "It’s got Donny Yen and it’s an ode to kung fu movies. If John Wick 1 was about Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin, this is about Chow Yun-fat, John Woo and Wong Kar-wai. So I think that one is a little easier to get it across to audiences because it’s in a sub-genre of what we love."
John Wick: Chapter 4 served as a farewell for the title character (Ballerina takes place during the events of Parabellum), and for Stahelski, he's sticking with that likely being the end of the road for the character.
"The studio would very much will it into existence, I’m sure, at some point," the filmmaker mused. "Look, they’ve been great and they’ve asked us to really try and we have a really good couple of ideas and we’re going to try."
It's hard to imagine John Wick remaining on the shelf for too long, but spending the next few years focusing on building this world before the lead character returns for an Avengers-level team-up might not be the worst idea in the world. Just don't bank on The Continental being part of it.
Stay tuned for updates on the John Wick franchise as we have them.