Academy Award winner and controversial Hollywood superstar Mel Gibson will soon the world of John Wick in the upcoming prequel series, The Continental: From the World of John Wick. Now, Gibson has discussed joining the project and revealed several details regarding his character, the ruthless criminal kingpin, Cormac in an interview done ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“He's kind of like [Winston and Charon’s] mentor, or actually, mentor or tormentor, I'm not sure which. But he's rather a nefarious character who's like a father figure to them, and they perceive him that way when they're young, but as they grow and begin to analyse who he really is, they realise he's probably not the father figure he pretends to be. He's pretty selfish in his own motives, and has used them in an ill way, and I think they're burned by that and they want to get even. Rightly so.”
Described as “an intimidating force, ruthless, brutal, yet capable of charm,” Cormac is a New York City kingpin who is the current manager at The Continental Hotel when The Continental: From the World of John Wick begins. Cormac has a history with Winston and Frankie Scott, and when Frankie steals something of immense value to Cormac’s superiors, Cormac drags Winston back into the criminal underworld. We’ll follow Cormac as his desperation mounts and his lunacy and anger boil over.
“The Continental that we meet in the TV show is probably one of the worst Continentals in the world,” adds executive producer Basil Iwanyk. “It's decrepit, it's corrupt, it's messy. Cormac, who's running it, is amoral and vindictive, and it almost mirrors the soul of New York, which is collapsing in on itself.”
The Continental Will Land on Peacock in September
The Continental: From the World of John Wick will tell the background story of how Winston Scott, played on the big screen by Ian McShane and in the series by The Flight Attendant star Colin Woodell, came to his position as proprietor of the New York branch of "The Continental" chain of hotels in an alternate history 1970s. The Continental is one of several safe havens for legal assassins on the grounds of which no business may ever take place, and the series explores variations on real-world events, including the Winter of Discontent and the American Mafia's rise to economic power.
Handsome, smart, cool, and collected, Winston is a savvy businessman who thinks outside the box. After a traumatic event put him in the crosshairs of the law, Winston was working as a successful businessman in London, when an underworld kingpin from his past, Cormac, sends him on a quest to find his estranged brother, Frankie.
Developed by Greg Coolidge, Kirk Ward and Shawn Simmons, The Continental: From the World of John Wick stars Colin Woodell as Winston Scott and Ayomide Adegun as Charon, as well as Mel Gibson, Hubert Point-Du Jour (The Good Lord Bird), Jessica Allain (The Laundromat), Mishel Prada (Fear the Walking Dead: Passage), Nhung Kate (The Housemaid), Ben Robson (The Boy, Vikings), Jeremy Bobb (The Outsider, Russian Doll), Katie McGrath (Jurassic World), and Ray McKinnon (Rectify, Deadwood).
The Continental: From the World of John Wick is expected to premiere in September 2023 on Peacock.