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SYFY WIRE The Continental: From the World of John Wick

Is Keanu Reeves' John Wick in The Continental?

Get ready for a new era of secrecy and violence in The Continental: From the World of John Wick!

By Cassidy Ward

Keanu Reeves is one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood thanks in no small part to the very real sense that Reeves is a beacon of light and warmth, incapable of intentionally harming anyone. Which is why it’s so bizarre that putting a gun in his hand is a surefire recipe for blockbuster billions. The wildly popular John Wick series leans hard into that notion, giving Reeves enough righteous vengeance and ammunition to burn down the world.

RELATED: Who’s Joining the John Wick-Verse? Breaking Down Cast for Peacock’s The Continental

This month, viewers will get another window into the world of John Wick in The Continental, premiering on Peacock September 22, 2023

Is Keanu Reeves in Peacock's John Wick spinoff The Continental?

Though Peacock's The Continental is a spinoff of the four-film John Wick saga, we likely won't be seeing Keanu Reeves show up in the trademark role. The reason? As has been well-advertised, The Continental is a prequel to the John Wick films, set in the mid-1970s, decades prior to the events of the first film starring Reeves. By that timeline, it stands to reason Reeves' character would still by a child during the events of The Continental, which would make it nearly impossible for Reeves to reprise the role. He's certainly a great actor, but playing a pre-teen kid is probably a stretch.

Though he won't be in The Continental, you can catch Reeves starring as John Wick in the first three John Wick films, streaming now on Peacock.

We'll certainly miss Reeves, but we will get to see the construction of the world which created him.

What is The Continental?

The Continental takes place during the mid-1970s in New York. Wick would have been alive at the time, but young, living out his days in Belarus or possibly El Sauzal, Mexico. We hope he was having fun with the neighborhood kids; unaware their games were preparing him for a violent and bloody future.

Our story focuses on the other side of North America, during the New York sanitation strike of the 1970s. The economy was struggling, and the city of New York laid off roughly 3,000 sanitation workers. In response, another 10,000 went on strike. The streets piled high with garbage and tensions were high. Crime had been on the rise for decades and wouldn’t slow down for decades more. If you were going to hide an underground society of professional killers, 1970s New York was the sort of place and time where you might do it.

Viewers will follow Winston Scott, the enigmatic purveyor of the New York Continental, a safe haven for professional killers. At The Continental, assassins can let their hair down and have a drink together, safe in the knowledge that everyone inside is off duty. In the film franchise, Winston is played bone-chillingly by Ian McShane; The Continental finds him four decades younger and portrayed by Colin Woodell.

The Continental is undoubtedly the most iconic location in the entire John Wick franchise, and Peacock’s upcoming mini-series promises to reveal how it became an island of immunity in a sea of blood.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick premiers September 22, on Peacock!