Do you need to watch John Wick to understand The Continental?

The Continental has premiered on Peacock and Prime Video. Is this something to watch before or after the John Wick movies?

We know that The Continental is set in the world of the Keanu Reeves movies. After all, the full title of the series is The Continental: From the World of John Wick. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to watch the movies to understand everything that is going on.

Spin-offs tend to do a good job of introducing the important elements of the story to the new fans. They help to explain a few things that have happened before, but add in Easter eggs for the fans of the original content.

Then there are some spin-offs that are set well before the events of the original shows. Let’s just take a look at Walker Independence, the prequel spin-off to Walker. There were some fun connections to the original series, but nothing that was necessary for the overall plot of the show.

You can watch The Continental before John Wick

If you haven’t seen the John Wick movies yet—where have you been?—there is some good news. You don’t need to hold off on The Continental. The series is a prequel story, telling us how Winston Scott took over the New York branch of The Continental Hotel.

There are two known characters from the John Wick universe in the series, but both of them are younger versions of the characters we’ve already come to know. The events in the Keanu Reeves movies haven’t happened yet. So, there’s no need to worry about the things that we know from them.

That being said, there are sure to be mentions or connections here and there for those who have watched the movies. After all, we’ve heard some stories from Winston in the movies, and it could be time to see them play out on screen.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick airs Fridays on Peacock in the U.S. and on Prime Video internationally.