The Continental Legally Couldn’t Recreate Iconic John Wick Location in Series

The world of John Wick expanded this weekend when The Continental debuted on Peacock. The series has been met with tepid reviews, earning a 49% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. ComicBook.com‘s Charlie Ridgely gave the prequel series a 2.5 out of 5, saying the show “doesn’t pack the same sleek action, tight narratives, or mystifying aura” as the films that came before, adding, “The Continental is John Wick in name and name alone.” The series takes place in the John Wick universe and fans will even spot some familiar locations, however, there’s one important place that isn’t quite the same. 

The show’s titular hotel is heavily featured in the John Wick films, but you may notice it looks different in the new series. The movies film in New York, and the Cocoa Exchange AKA the Beaver Building serves as The Continental. However, the new show was filmed in Budapest, and they weren’t allowed to recreate the iconic hotel. 

“We knew we had to build it because we weren’t going to shoot that actual building in New York on Beaver Street,” The Continental executive producer Albert Hughes shared with TVLine. “But then we ran into this really wonderful kind of ‘roadblock’ which is they didn’t allow us the rights to even emulate the look of the building. The owners were like, ‘No, you can’t even make it look like our building.’” Hughes speculated that they were not allowed to use the building’s likenss because the series wasn’t paying a location fee.

“So, my production designer is like, ‘Well, that gives us an opportunity…,’” Hughes continued. “We’re in the ’70s and Cormac [Mel Gibson] is in charge now, so let’s add these fascistic eagles in the front and change the design a bit. And it actually ended up being quite wonderful creative opportunity for us.”

“In the first John Wick film, Keanu says to Charon [Lance Reddick] when he checks in, ‘When did the old place get a facelift?’ and Charon says, ‘Yes, we remodeled since you’ve last been here’ – or something like that,” Hughes added to justify the change. 

What is The Continental About? 

Here’s the official synopsis for The Continental: “The three-part event will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.”

The Continental is set to feature Colin Woodell as the fan-favorite Winston Scott, who is played by Ian McShane in the movies, as well as newcomer Ayomide Adegun as Winston’s right-hand man, Charon. Charon was most famously portrayed by the late Lance Reddick in all of the films in the John Wick franchise. Peacock rounds out the series with Ben Robson (Animal Kingdom) as Frankie, Hubert Point-Du Jour (The Good Lord Bird) as Miles, Jessica Allain (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as Lou, Mishel Prada (Riverdale) as KD, Nhung Kate as Yen, Peter Greene (Pulp Fiction) as Uncle Charlie, and Mel Gibson as Cormac.

What do you think of The Continental so far? Tell us in the comments!