There have been some serious challenges that the John Wick spinoff The Continental has posed for its producers. The Continental is a three-episode miniseries that follows the story of John Wick's Winston Scott as he establishes the Continental Hotel chain as a safe haven for assassins. It will follow real-world events, while also injecting the epic thriller elements that make John Wick such a renowned franchise.

In an interview with Deadline, director Albert Hughes explained that putting The Continental together hasn't always been easy. Since John Wick was never intended to be a string of movies with spinoffs and a shared universe like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Continental has been a challenge. After all, it needs to build up the lore of John Wick's world, while also ensuring that it doesn't contradict anything that it's supposed to be setting up. Check out his quote below:

“The challenge of doing a TV show from John Wick is, people think this is based on some underlying IP. It’s an original idea that was never meant to be a franchise, and we’ve been making it up as we’ve gone along. The issue we had with television was, how are we going to create a John Wick offshoot without cannibalizing ourselves or feeling like we’ve stripped mined the franchise. Also, the action in the movie just got so big, we shot up half of Paris in the last one. How do you compete with that?

"Our showrunners came in with the idea of the prequel, for Winston and the start of The Continental. I love the film aesthetic of New York in the ‘70s; Sidney Lumet is one of my three favorite directors of all time. What a genius idea of doing a prequel because, as we expand the current day Wick franchise, it all feeds the prequel, it doesn’t take storylines away from the TV show. The more good characters we come up with for The Ballerina, or whatever spinoffs we come up with, it’s more material for the prequel to grow. It was so different than anything we have had in the Wick world."

Can The Continental Stand Apart From John Wick?

Even as it explains the history of John Wick, The Continental will also need to stand apart in order to inject a fresh perspective into the universe. It certainly helps that it will be told from the point of view of Winston. Instead of sticking to John Wick's quest to free himself from the life he is routinely thrust back into, it will keep an eye on Winston, who intends to profit off of the pain of the assassins. It's a unique perspective that will offer interesting insight into Winston and the world at large.

Because of that focus, The Continental's action will also differ. It won't be using the same fighting style that John Wick has always used, since its characters will have a very different style than the action hero Wick. With its smaller scale and TV-sized budget, it will have to focus on a much more miniscule story than Wick's globe-trotting adventures. That alone is enough to set it apart.

The Continental also offers the opportunity to consider a brand-new setting thanks to its 1970s timeline. With the world having wildly different technology than it does today, the lives of assassins will be tremendously changed. Even just having different types of guns will help the series feel fresh, and it will almost certainly have more than just that. However different it will be for the characters and the audience alike, The Continental is expected to premiere on September 22 on Peacock.

Source: Deadline