Chad Stahelski spills a few details about the John Wick TV series

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Prior to the release of JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2, director Chad Stahelski and writer Derek Kolstad teased a possible prequel TV series which would explore the origins of John Wick (Keanu Reeves). That project is now in development at Lionsgate and Chad Stahelski spilled a few details to IndieWire about the series, which is apparently going by the title The Continental.

They’ve got a really good structure. 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. I like telling stories from my one character’s perspective. 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.

Although the series won't be focused on John Wick, Chad Stahelski says that there are tentative plans for Keanu Reeves to make an appearance. As for Stahelski himself, he says that he'd "like to stay involved throughout the development stage and hopefully direct a couple of episodes." It wouldn't be JOHN WICK without some incredible action, and Stahelski seems confident that they'll be able to deliver something impressive even on a television budget, pointing to Game of Thrones as an inspiration.

Look at ‘Battle of the Bastards.' As an action designer, I think that’s the best battle I’ve ever seen on TV. They did a great job, and they weren’t careless with their money. They planned it, they boarded it — you watch the behind-the-scenes, [it’s clear] the guys did everything right. Granted, they’re the biggest budgeted show on TV right now, but could we do something interesting with ‘John Wick’ with what we have? Yeah. I’d like to give it a go and prove to the TV world that you can have feature action on a TV show. It would be a nice little feather in my cap, sure.

There's certainly potential for The Continental to become a nice companion to the feature-films, especially if they're able to shed some light on the aspects of John Wick's world which have been glossed over. Chad Stahelski won't have much time to devote to the series just yet as he's currently knee-deep in discussions about the script for JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 with Derek Kolstad and Keanu Reeves. Stahelski has said that the sequel will be a "nice completion to Mr. Wick's journey" and explore "where John comes from and where he wants to go."

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 was released on DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD yesterday.