Exec producers Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee explain their care in not “killing a franchise”
The John Wick film series, about a retired assassin reluctantly pulled back into his former life, has grossed more than $1bn at the global box office - and the stylish yet murky world of killers-for-hire which serves as a backdrop to the films’ high-octane action sequences seems ripe for further exploration.
The Peacock/Amazon Prime Video prequel TV series, which launched last month, sets out to do just that. But Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, the exec producers on The Continental: From the World of John Wick say the idea of building a ‘universe’ also felt like a hurdle when creating the show.
“We’re not in it for a cash grab, and the word ‘universe’ is something we roll our eyes at too,” Lee says. “It’s not something that we sort of set out to do. But there’s so many interesting characters, great ways in and stories to tell that we felt that this version of The Continental was different and worthy of making.”
Thunder Road founders Iwanyk and Lee are both ever-presents on the creative teams behind the franchise’s immensely successful films, but Iwanyk adds that just continuing the thread of the film would have suffocated the series.
“Short-term money grabs kill franchises,” he says. “We’ve seen that in other franchises. You have to be methodical and careful and have [the series’ existence] be earned – at least in terms of the narrative.”
Although Lee acknowledges the team was “terrified of harming the mothership”, Iwanyk says, conversely, the opportunity to do a prequel freed the creatives (the show was developed and written by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward, Ken Kristensen and Shawn Simmons) from the features.
“That’s the crazy part, we’re not based on any IP, so every we’re making it up as we go along and it’s really exciting to be able to go to a million different directions,” he says. “That being said, sometimes when we were stuck, we often wished we had some source material. We’re building the plane whilst it’s in the air.”
The three-part series – a Broadcast Hot Pick for Mipcom next week – has been in Amazon Prime Video UK’s top 10 titles since it launched at the end of September, and currently sits at number two.
Devoid of its eponymous star, played by Keanu Reeves in the films, the series tells the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins, a central precinct in the John Wick universe. The series is seen through the eyes of a young Winston Scott – played by Ian McShane in the films – as he’s dragged into the unseemly world of 1970s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind.
The series is compartmentalised into three episodes which total around four hours, and Iwanyk says this also defied common franchise tactics of creating multi-episode series.
“We’ve seen shows and films that should be 70% of the length, and they’re stretched out. In television, I think, cynically, sometimes it’s about how do get more episodes [out of a show].”
Iwanyk and Lee both talk up the series noir aspects and highlight the importance of the soul-infused soundtrack as heightening the show, making it “cooler”, while keeping the action sequences of the features. “We wanted it to be beautiful and sound beautiful and feel filmic,” Iwanyk says.
“We loved having fun with the show, which gave us more time to dig in deeper with the characters and learn more about the relationships,” Lee adds. “But, at the core, John Wick is escapism and ultimately it should be fun. I’m personally drawn to shows that are a bit surreal and escapist.”
Casting controversy
One of the aspects which challenged the show, even before it was released, is the presence of Mel Gibson as super-villain Cormac. In the absence of Reeves, Gibson does offer a recognisable name, but also brings the baggage of past controversies – something acknowledged by Iwanyk. Did they have pushback in casting him?
“Anything that would be destabilising? No. But there will always be pushback, if you work with Mel, in certain sectors,” he says. “I totally respect anyone’s opinion or point of view that they have towards Mel, I completely understand it.
“On a creative level, we wanted a bad guy, and he plays a mad king whose world is falling apart – and it’s perfect casting.”
No comments yet