The John Wick movies might have come to an end, or possibly not depending on what ideas Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahleski can come up with, it lives on in TV form with The Continental.
Check out the trailer here:
The Prime Video show tells the story of the iconic hotel from the movies which serves as neutral ground for the army of assassins in the world of John Wick.
More specifically, it tells the tale of how Winston Scott (Colin Woodell in the series, Ian McShane in the movies) became the man at the top, and since this is a John Wick spin-off, he doesn't get it by asking politely if they'll let him be in charge.
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Instead, Winston and pretty much every other character in The Continental goes through the sort of action sequences you'd expected to be served in a John Wick flick.
LADbible had the chance to sit down with Albert Hughes, who was in the director's chair for episodes one and three.
Hughes revealed that he took the chance to sit in the director's chair for The Continental 'to have fun' after the COVID pandemic.
"I had two opportunities, one was this really great script but it dealt with some really heavy issues and then the other was this," he told us.
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"If I have fun maybe the audience will have fun too because when I watch the John Wick movies I always have a ball."
And one of the perks of being the director is also being able to smuggle a few of your nearest and dearest into the world of John Wick.
Hughes was able to let his daughter Adrienne in on the fun, getting her in front of the camera a few times, including as one of the hotel's eclectic cast of assassins.
If you're wondering where you can spot her in the series, Hughes said she's 'the woman that double pumps the shotgun in all the ads' for the show, though you'll also be able to see her a few times through the whole thing.
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He said: "My daughter was working on production as an assistant, I snuck her in a few times.
"She's in episode one in the speakeasy door when Winston's being taken through the kitchen. She slams the door on Winston as he's going by."
"She's one of the assessors that comes out of the hotel when Frankie gets picked up in a taxi and takes off. She's the one in white and she's wearing a Bianca Jagger outfit from Studio 54 shooting a machine gun."
Hughes said that when it came to cameos in front of the camera, his daughter was 'now my proxy doing it for me', saying he was 'too shy' to sneak himself in front of the lens on his projects.
While Hughes handled episodes one and three of The Continental action director Larnell Stovall was tasked with bringing audiences the sort of action they expect from the world of John Wick.
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With so much action in the series, he found it hard to pick which he liked best but the very first action sequence in the show, a dramatic fight in a stairwell that makes plenty of use of the vertical space, is one he's particularly fond of.
"I have to be proud of the first one, the stairwell sequence," Stovall told LADbible.
"Here's why, it's our first big sequence introducing you to our world to let you know that we got your back on what you expect from the John Wick universe and let you know that 'hey, here's a sample of things to come'.
"Once we got that one done we felt a lot of pressure off our backs.
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"I'm a fan of not gratuitous violence, but impact moments. You know, once people see so many kicks and punches, they forget the fight scene, they don't forget the moments.
"If you create special moments, they're going to remember, 'hey you got to watch this for this moment'."
It's far from the only action sequence in the series and Stovall particularly enjoyed a treat that The Continental dangles in front of the audience for two episodes before finally giving fans the fight they'd been hoping for.
Stovall explained that when it came to the characters Hansel and Gretel 'we specifically made sure that there were no fight sequences with them in episodes one and two'.
If you want to see the pair in action you'll just have to make it to episode three.
The Continental is available to stream now on Prime Video.
Topics: TV and Film, Amazon Prime, John Wick, Celebrity
Joe Harker