Aude Guerrucci/Reuters
John Wick 4 was an absolute blast. Great! Fans of the franchise loved it so much, they are clamoring for more from the John Wick universe. Great!! A new series billed as “from the world of John Wick” is coming to Peacock in September. Great!!! Mel Gibson is going to star. Gre…wait—what now?
The Continental is a three-part limited series, which takes place 40 years before the John Wick films and centers around the hotel for assassins owned by Ian McShane’s Winston Scott. (Colin Woodell will play a younger version of the character in the series.) The long-gestating project has been in development since 2018, with Gibson’s involvement first announced in 2021.
Due to the actor’s history of domestic violence and making anti-Semitic comments, his casting sparked backlash. “It’s not that Mel Gibson proves cancel culture isn’t a thing,” one Twitter user posted, after the initial announcement. “It’s that hiring Mel Gibson shows society actively doesn’t care about [domestic violence], racism, or antisemitism.”