John Wick's Ian McShane has "no idea" about The Continental spin-off

He added: "I've not a clue what that's about in any way, shape, or form."

The Continental will tell the story of how Ian McShane's Winston Scott (who will be played in the show by Colin Woodell) came to be the proprietor of the hotel in the '70s. McShane did reveal, though, that prior to co-star Lance Reddick's tragic passing last week, he and Reddick had come up with their own versions for Winston and Charon’s backgrounds.

Reddick died of natural causes earlier this month and starred as Charon, The Continental's concierge, throughout all four John Wick films. He is also slated to appear posthumously in the upcoming spin-off movie Ballerina, which will see Ana de Armas take the lead role as Rooney.

Speaking about how he and Reddick had thought of their characters' backstories, McShane told RadioTimes.com: "Lance Reddick and I worked all that out – the sort of backstory they have, where I think Winston was working in Africa in the late '50s or early '60s as some kind of MI6/CIA operative and then brought Charon with him.

"So we have that as our sort of [backstory] and we both like John – he's our favourite assassin."

Read more:

• Liam Neeson on following Humphrey Bogart in Marlowe: "I feel I know that character"
• John Wick 4 adds tribute to the late Lance Reddick

Talking about its place in the John Wick universe, McShane also revealed more about the Ballerina spin-off film, saying: "Ballerina was written I think as a one-off script and then they wanted to incorporate it into this world – because [screenwriter] Shay Hatten has written before, he wrote special stuff for Chapter 3.

"So Shay knows the world, and they wanted to incorporate it within the John Wick franchise."

He continued: "So they obviously then said we want Winston to be in there and Charon, and the Anjelica Huston character. And then they wanted John – so Keanu is in it, too. So it's kind of nice.

"And I mean, I know it's set in the retro world between 3 and 4, but people will still think it's the latest when it comes out. And maybe by then Keanu will think maybe there will be another episode!"

Ian McShane's Big RT Interview will be available to read on RadioTimes.com on Friday 24th March.

John Wick 4 is released in cinemas on Friday 24th March 2023. Check out more of our Film coverage, or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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