What To Expect From Mel Gibson’s Character In John Wick Prequel The Continental

Once one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Mel Gibson had a significant fall from grace that started with some truly terrible comments and ended with “Fatman.” In other words, it’s been a while since the former leading man has done anything with any prestige. Which makes his casting in “The Continental” all the more odd.

Just as mysterious as his casting is his character. In October 2021, Deadline reported that Gibson would “play a character named Cormac.” Since then there’s been little in the way of further details, perhaps to ensure his casting controversy didn’t overshadow hype for “The Continental.” Then, the trailer dropped sans Gibson. Which means overall, we knew very little about his character.

Now, Deadline has spoken to Albert Hughes, who actually directed two episodes of the upcoming prequel, and provided some significant info on the show, including more details on what the outlet called Gibson’s “intense performance.” Apparently, Cormac is the guy in charge of the titular hotel, and is described by Deadline as an “insecure and psychotic caretaker whose tenuous hold over the hotel causes him to do frightful things.” So, a bad guy then. But Hughes provided more insight:

“With Mel, [showrunner Kirk Ward] and I decided he should be a little shabby on the edges. His organization skills aren’t as tight as Winston’s are later on. It feels a little cheap. Then I started coming up with my own motivations for the character, that was a cross between Joel Silver and Donald Trump. I would tell Mel little things along the way, but what I really told him was, ‘Go big. Chew up the scenery if you want. ‘John Wick’ films do that.’ He was like, ‘Oh, really? Really? I can do that?'”