Mel Gibson is set to star on “John Wick” origin series “The Continental,” TheWrap has confirmed. He’ll play a character named “Cormac,” though we do not yet have a character description for Gibson’s role.
The event series, which is set 40 years before the events of the Keanu Reeves-led “John Wick” films, will be a three-night special produced for Starz by Lionsgate.
“The Continental” will explore the origin behind the hotel-for-assassins, the centerpiece of the “John Wick” universe, through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott (played by Ian McShane in the “John Wick” films) who is dragged into the Hell-scape of 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through New York’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the iconic hotel, which serves as the meeting point for the world’s most dangerous criminals.
Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward will showrun “The Continental.” Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, Chad Stahelski, Derek Kolstad, David Leitch, Shawn Simmons, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese will executive produce alongside Coolidge and Ward.
Albert Hughes (“The Book of Eli,” “Menace II Society”) will direct the first and third episodes of “The Continental.”
Starz had initially developed the project as an ongoing series, but over the summer, it was decided the show would be launched as a three-part TV event across three nights. Each episode will be feature-length installments and each boast feature-film budgets.
“John Wick 4,” which features McShane reprising his role as the older Winston Scott, is filming in Europe and is expected to be released sometime in 2022.
Deadline first reported the news of Gibson’s casting in “The Continental.”