Editor’s Note: The following contains The Continental: From the World of John Wick spoilers.
The Big Picture
Now that The Continental: From the World of John Wick has opened its doors to Peacock subscribers, it has also opened the doors to a potentially too-big universe for the John Wick franchise. It’s remarkable that the character of John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has evolved from a cult-favorite protagonist into an internationally known action hero in a relatively short period of time. John Wick isn’t the only thing about this long-running series that has persevered, though, as the universe the vengeful assassin inhabits has also changed and grown with each subsequent installment.
In the original 2014 film, John Wick, the only things we knew about this world of assassination were the gold coin currency and the hotel where criminal activities were suspended. Three sequels and a prequel series later, and now this universe contains superstitious traditions, blind marksmen, and a “High Table” that quite literally runs the entire world.
This universe is big, and it just keeps getting bigger, as both the Ballerina spin-off and John Wick: Chapter 5 are in active development and will no doubt expand this cinematic world even more. The expansiveness is admirable, but perhaps things are getting a bit too crowded. If this relatively fledgling cinematic universe isn’t careful, it could share the fate of other similar concepts and crumble under its weight.
Exactly How Old Is the High Table?
Apart from the titular hotel for criminals, there are many other concepts from the John Wick series that return in The Continental: From the World of John Wick. One of those concepts is the role of the Adjudicator – the otherwise nameless High Table enforcer played by Asia Kate Dillon, who was leading the search for Wick in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. We meet a new, or rather prior, Adjudicator (played by Katie McGrath), who is searching for the coin press that Frankie Scott (Ben Robson) stole.
The Continental: From the World of John Wick’s Adjudicator is introduced with a brief shot of her signature Adjudicator coin, much like her eventual successor in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. The premiere episode of the miniseries sees the menacing enforcer in an abandoned building while one of her minions brutally beats Frankie’s accomplice (Simon Wan). It’s a typical interrogation as far as crime stories go, but the Adjudicator offers some pretty interesting information to the audience. While explaining the concept of unseating the High Table to be a fool’s errand, the Adjudicator mentions that toppling an organization that is older than the Roman Empire.
How Does the High Table’s Age Set Up Expansion Beyond ‘The Continental’?
If what the Adjudicator said in The Continental: From the World of John Wick is to be believed, The High Table as an organization is at least 2,000 years old. It’s a shadowy criminal conspiracy that has outlasted kingdoms, governments, and more over the course of several centuries. With the confirmation that this criminal underworld is nearly as old as history itself, the potential for new time periods and settings is limitless in theory.
Where to even start with the possibilities. Imagine a swashbuckling pirate tale where a crew of scallywags scour the seas for a treasure trove of the franchise’s signature gold coming. What about a full-blown 1800s gunslinger film set in the American Wild West, where a vengeful gunslinger hunts down a dastardly High Table villain who wronged them? Perhaps a 1920s Chicago-set gangster film where a mobster is forced to honor the marker of a rival crime family. That’s only scratching the surface of the potential ideas that can be a part of this ever-growing franchise.
Plus, we don’t even know for sure how much older The High Table is than the Roman Empire. For all we know, this long-standing organization could be as old as Ancient Egypt. Before you know it, we could also be knee-deep in John Wick universe films set in Peloponnesian War-era Greece, Viking-conquered Scandinavia, or even Feudal Japan. As silly as it may sound, there is the possibility that we could see the John Wick universe become the cinematic equivalent of the Assassin’s Creed video games, with an interconnecting story told across many, many years. Are all these concepts absurd and ridiculous? Yes. Would we still watch them? Also yes.
Will the John Wick Franchise’s Constant Expansion Be Its Downfall?
A pirate movie set in the world of John Wick alone sounds too good to pass up, but we must admit, that may be just too big of a departure from the source material. The John Wick films as a whole already require their audience to suspend their disbelief, as the core concept of one criminal organization controlling all crime worldwide is pretty ridiculous. It’s an appropriately absurd concept for a franchise known for its absurd action sequences, but how silly is too silly?
There’s an adverse effect that occurs within the John Wick universe every time it expands. The more this so-called “criminal underworld” grows, the more it stops being a criminal underworld. Instead, it becomes a criminal overworld because of how prevalent it becomes in the public eye. This is something that can be noticed in a film as early in the franchise’s lifespan as John Wick: Chapter 2, where it almost seems like every able-bodied human in New York City is a gun-toting mercenary. It’s abundantly clear that law enforcement and perhaps even world governments turn a blind eye to the Table’s actions, but this secret society becomes less and less alluring the more times they exert their power.
So, to summarize, yes. The John Wick franchise is getting bigger than anyone could have imagined and there is the risk that it could become too big for its own good. That said, if the creative minds behind this series can keep the unprecedented momentum of high-quality content going, maybe the concerns will be null and void. We’re four movies into this franchise, and each entry has been acceptable. Even The Continental: From the World of John Wick, which isn’t as strong as the films that inspired it, still stands on its own and continues to set the building blocks of a fascinating universe.
The Continental: From the World of John Wick is streaming on Peacock.
