The world was given a rare but beautiful gift this week when the teaser trailer for the John Wick spinoff series The Continental dropped and gave us a first look at all of the gratuitous violence and the unexplainable horrors of New York City in the 1970s. Although it’s being called a “three-episode event” instead of limited series, you understand the gist of what they’re going for.
The Continental will bring guests back to a time when assassins roamed free throughout the city, way before John Wick was given his first puppy. The series will focus on a young Winston Scott (portrayed by Ian McShane in the films) who makes his way to New York to hide out at the assassin-friendly hotel while learning about the inner workings of its hierarchy. Similar to Hotel For Dogs, but with people instead of pups. For the most part.
Colin Woodell will lead the series, joined by Peter Greene, Ben Robson, Ayomide Adegun, and Mel Gibson (yeah, really). But the most jaw-dropping moment of the show’s teaser trailer doesn’t even include a jaw at all, and that’s the debut of Katie McGrath as The Adjudicator.
First introduced in John Wick Chapter 3, The Adjudicator is a High Table agent who tries to maintain the balance in the tight-night assassin community. As the main antagonist in Chapter 3, The Adjudicator (who is non-binary) was keen on taking down John Wick, who, to be fair, didn’t play by the rules. In the film, this character was portrayed by Asia Kate Dillion, though Dillion did not reprise their role in Chapter 4, as The Adjudicator was missing from that film, though there was no clarification of whether they were dead or alive.
Seeing as The Continental will be a prequel, it seems like we will learn the origins of this High Table agent who seems to have a ton of power and surely loves to use it. While McGrath only appeared in the trailer for a split second, it’s clear that she is getting comfortable as a cold-blooded killer by wearing a chic Hannibal Lecter-inspired look. Hopefully, they don’t eat people.
The Continental will debut on Peacock this September.
