John Wick Spinoff The Continental Reveals Franchise's Biggest Flaw
Apparently, without Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski, it doesn't really feel like John Wick anymore.
With the fate of John Wick 5 still up in the air after Chapter 4 seemingly concluded the character's story, new ways to expand the franchise had to be found, so for now the creators focused on various spin-off projects.
The first of them, The Continental: From the World of John Wick TV series is about to release its debut episode and the early reviews are already out.
However, according to them, the show ended up being a bit underwhelming and exposed the franchise's biggest flaw, as it seems that with Keanu Reeves out of the picture, John Wick is becoming an empty shell of its former self.
Set in the 1970s, the three-episode miniseries focuses on young Winston Scott and how he became the head of The Continental Hotel in New York, but while it is a good show, it has little to offer fans of the franchise other than the fleeting John Wick vibes.
While the lack of the slick aesthetics of the movies is understandable, as it is set in a different time period, the show also has problems with tone, and the direction along with the action scenes look inferior to the movies.
This could prove to be a huge setback for the series, because let's face it, a lot of fans didn't really care about the lore of the assassin society and were mainly attracted to the three things: Keanu Reeves, jaw-dropping action, and beautiful aesthetics.
While The Continental tries to imitate John Wick, it doesn't really look like it, even with familiar characters and story elements, and that will undoubtedly be a problem for many fans.
They say that when they watch the trailers, they see another 70s action TV show, not their beloved franchise, and some even confess that the whole "secret society" plot that appeared in the second film is the weakest part of the franchise for them.
So with The Continental lacking two of the three main attractions, and only sort of delivering on the third, it may end up being a flop, even though it's not that bad.
We'll see the fans' reactions soon enough, as the first episode premieres on September 22, 2023, and if their fears do indeed come true, the only hope for the franchise will be the upcoming Ballerina movie, which is at least set in modern times.
Sources: The Escapist, Reddit