Warning! This article contains spoilers for The Continental.
The Continental offered up plenty of interesting secrets about the titular hotel that were left absent from the John Wick films. The Continental‘s place on the John Wick timeline means it is set almost four decades before the Keanu Reeves-led films began. As such, the prequel delves much deeper into the world of John Wick and how the criminal underworld was shaped into the empire that was focused on at length in the latter movies.
From the origins of Winston Scott as The Continental’s manager to more information being divulged about the High Table, The Continental answered several questions about the world of John Wick. While this was accomplished through The Continental‘s John Wick Easter eggs, there were also plenty of scenes that further fleshed out elements of the franchise’s lore not found in the John Wick movies. With that in mind, here is every secret about the titular establishment that The Continental provided.
7 The Continental’s 13th Floor
One of the biggest secrets about the hotel that was explained by The Continental‘s ending is the 13th floor. During the chaos of Winston’s siege on The Continental, Cormac enters an elevator and rides it to the operations room of the hotel. Charon explains that no one knows where the operations room is and that it is a manager’s privilege to know the exact location. However, before The Continental’s elevator operator dies from wounds given to him by Cormac, he whispers the number 13 to Charon.
This helps Winston and Charon deduce that the operations room is located on the 13th floor of The Continental, despite the hotel not having a 13th floor. This element of the hotel is not mentioned at all in any of the John Wick films. While the inner workings of the hotel such as the formation of bounty targets and various other services are detailed, the 13th floor remained a secret until the events of The Continental.
6 The Continental’s Self-Destruct Function
Stemming from the 13th floor, another secret found in The Continental is the hotel’s self-destruct function. As Cormac devolves further into madness and is consumed by his need for revenge against Winston in The Continental episode 3, he forgets about the High Table and his retrieval of the coin press, instead activating the hotel’s self-destruct countdown. This is another privilege of the operations room awarded only to the manager and the operations room’s director which begins a countdown that will eventually bring down the entire hotel and everyone in it.
5 Cormac’s Management Of The Continental
Given the importance of Cormac to Winston Scott’s origin story, it is surprising that the former’s management of the building is not mentioned in any of the John Wick films. Cormac’s tyranny as well as his psychotic, violent nature are left unspoken in John Wick even by Winston who plays an integral role in all four films. While this makes sense given the lack of relevance of Cormac to John’s journey, it is surprising that Cormac’s horrible management showcased in The Continental is left mostly secret by its sequel series.
4 The Continental Manager’s Escape Pod
After enacting The Continental’s self-destruct countdown, Cormac attempts to flee by taking an elevator to an underground railway line. While Winston and KD eventually track him down and kill him, his plan is still shown. Cormac was planning to use an escape pod that would take him away from the hotel as it exploded. The pod pulls up next to Winston after Cormac’s death as a voice can be heard saying “Mr O’Connor, your escape pod has arrived.” This element of The Continental is not mentioned in any of the John Wick movies proving it as another secret for the show.
3 The Power Of The Coin Press
The core MacGuffin of The Continental‘s plot was the coin press Frankie stole in the opening heist of the show’s first episode. Much of the series centered on Cormac obsessively chasing down the coin press as well as the Adjudicator of the High Table. In The Continental episode 3, the true power of the coin press is revealed in that it allows anyone who holds it to easily infiltrate any of The Continental’s branches across the world such as Mazie’s Bowery agents.
Throughout John Wick, the power of The Continental’s currency is shown at length. From the different guns, weapons, and ammo John can purchase with them to other services like tailoring and accommodation at the hotel chain, the currency of the John Wick world is showcased. However, the John Wick films do not detail how these coins are created – at least pertaining to the New York Continental – meaning The Continental‘s focus on the coin press is yet another secret of the titular hotel that is absent from its connected film series.
2 The Continental’s Red Light
Both The Continental episode 1 and episode 3 feature a secret of the hotel that was not highlighted in any of the John Wick films. During Frankie’s heist and Winston’s siege in the first and third episodes of the show respectively, a red light is activated within The Continental. This red light indicates to all residents that for as long as the light is flashing, violence is permitted on Continental grounds. This goes against the primary rule of all Continental branches and allows for some of The Continental‘s biggest, most exciting action sequences.
In the four John Wick movies, violence is rarely shown on Continental grounds given the main rule of the hotel. As such, the red light is not used in any of the films meaning it was a secret of The Continental from the 1970s. The closest the John Wick movies come to using the red light is in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in which Charon activates green, flashing neon lights as the agents of the High Table engage in a firefight on the premises of the New York Continental. That said, this is slightly different from the red light featured in The Continental.
1 Winston’s Early Alliance With The Bowery
In the John Wick films, the titular assassin strikes an accord with the Bowery King on multiple occasions. While Winston and the Bowery King are shown to be aware of one another’s businesses and have somewhat of an alliance, it is mainly through John that the Bowery King is involved in the John Wick films. However, The Continental established that Winston had an alliance with the Bowery as far back as the 1970s. While not the Bowery King himself, Mazie and her Bowery agents aided Winston in taking control of The Continental, proving that the latter’s alliance with the Bowery was kept secret for much of the John Wick franchise.
