Franchise building is tricky business, and the only issue isn't maintaining continuity across sequels, spinoffs, and more. A lot of different creative voices get involved, and that can mean conflict developing as the vision of one person doesn't properly line up with the vision of another. Case in point: Ian McShane has not yet watched the John Wick prequel series The Continental because he doesn't approve of how the writers approached the backstory of his character Winston Scott.
McShane explained as much during an interview with CinemaBlend's Hannah Saulic during the recent press day for the new not-a-sequel-not-a-spinoff Ballerina. The actor spoke about his collaboration with the late Lance Reddick, who delivers his final performance as Charon in the Ana de Armas-led movie, and he explained that the two of them had their own backstory in mind that explained how their characters first met and became friends. Said McShane,
We had a whole thing worked out from the beginning, the first show, when we talked about it. And I always felt – and I think he… That they’d both been government employees – he actually working from Africa, maybe for the CIA. And I was working for MI5, and they'd known each other through the years…And then, when obviously government work comes to an end, you go into the private business.
I'm assuming that neither Winston Scott nor Charon lived lives as saints as young adults, but in the minds of Ian McShane and Lance Reddick, they were men who both served their country, and when their services were no longer required, they found a different way to utilize their special skill sets: they became invested in the world of professional assassins and took up positions of prominence and power at the Continental Hotel in New York.
However, this is not the story that is presented in The Continental, the prequel series that became available for Peacock subscribers in late 2023. The show suggests that Winston Scott's background is as a criminal, and that's not a take that Ian McShane agrees with. He disagrees with it so much, in fact, that he has completely dismissed it and seemingly has no plans to watch. He continued,
They did some, a TV show, the prequel about our characters, but they didn't, you know, it wasn't very… I never saw it because I didn't agree with the premise of it, because the premise was much more interesting than that. I thought they were two people over… because they're far too sophisticated. They weren't criminals. But where do you put your expertise, which has been involved in spying and nefarious attitudes when you leave government service? You take it to the private business.
Seeing Winston and Charon with backgrounds in spy craft was apparently something that Ian McShane and Lance Reddick saw eye-to-eye on – though the former says that they had a very different perspective when it came to being involved in John Wick's trademark action sequences:
So that was always behind our thoughts of the characters. And, whereas he always, Lance wanted to get involved with the action, which he did in the number three. And they always said to me… I said, ‘No, no. I don't want to do any fighting, thank you very much. No, no, no. Winston's a lover, not a fighter, thank you very much.’
Audiences will get to see Ian McShane back as Winston Scott loving and not fighting this weekend as Ballerina arrives in theaters everywhere. The impressive cast includes a number of John Wick franchise veterans, including not only the aforementioned McShane and Reddick but also Keanu Reeves and Anjelica Huston. Be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend in the coming days for a lot more of our coverage of the new release, including more from our interviews with the film's stars.
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