MOVIE NEWS – The producer of the John Wick spin-off The Continental has defended the casting of Mel Gibson in the series.

The Continental will arrive later this year as an expansion of the John Wick universe. The series will also feature new characters. Among them is Cormac, the owner of The Continental, played by Mel Gibson. Of course, Gibson’s casting, which has been controversial in recent years, has caused quite a stir online. But Executive Producer Basil Iwanyk recently defended the decision, noting to IGN that Gibson’s past was not even mentioned.

“There just simply wasn’t a consideration about it. No. I think he fit the role, he fit what we needed based on his film past. And I’ll leave others to debate the other stuff because it’s not a black-and-white issue, and I don’t want to be sound-bited and clickbait. That’s a tricky game to get into. I have my own personal beliefs in life and whatnot about everything, but I’m here to entertain. And earlier in my career I wasn’t so careful. But there’s a weight that he brought, the stuff that he brought from his past roles and what he has done that we needed for this role.”

“I don’t think anybody could have fit better, let’s put it that way, just with his chops and his experience.”

Mel Gibson was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars from the 1980s until the mid-2000s. With films like the Lethal Weapon franchise, the Oscar-winning Braveheart and many more. Things started to go wrong after the release of The Passion of the Christ, directed by Gibson. The film was dogged by accusations of anti-Semitism, which haunted the actor for incidents in his private life in the years that followed. Despite having managed to land some significant roles in the last decade, Gibson has been mostly blacklisted in Hollywood. Because of this, his appearance in The Continental has been a red herring for many.

The Continental takes you back to the pre-movie days to discover a little more about the infamous hotel and its deadly residents. The production of the series has changed several times since it was initially announced, but it has finally been agreed that it will be a three-part series on the Peacock this September. The first trailer for the miniseries has already given us a taste of what to expect, but there’s still a lot unknown about the latest instalment in the John Wick franchise. The series will feature a younger version of John Wick’s recurring characters, Winston and Charon. Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick played them in the films. We’re supposed to delve deep into the mythology of the hotel.

Source: IGN