Rumors of Keanu Reeves returning to the role of Constantine just might come to fruition, as the original movie’s director Francis Lawrence says Reeves is still on board to return for a potential sequel. Although Constantine did not light the box office on fire the way the studio had intended when the movie was initially released in theaters, the movie has since developed a large cult following to become much more popular in retrospect. This resurgence in popularity has also led to an increasing fan demand for Reeves to come back into the role, either for a Constantine sequel or with a special appearance in a crossover project.
Just this month, anticipation for Constantine 2 increased tenfold when it was reported that J. J. Abrams was looking to develop a new movie about the character for Warner Bros. Word is Abrams will serve as a producer under his Bad Robot production banner, but there wasn’t much information given about the concept of the movie. It’s also unclear if the project will serve as a Constantine reboot with no apparent relation to Lawrence’s 2005 movie, or if Abrams would be interested in casting Reeves in the role. Regardless, Lawrence is still holding out hope for doing Constantine 2 with Reeves and producer Akiva Goldsman.
In a recent interview with Slash Film, Francis Lawrence spoke about the desires he shares with Reeves and Goldman to make a sequel. In fact, Lawrence even specifies that they’ve even talked about the concept recently. Unfortunately, as noted by the filmmaker, Lawrence and his team do not currently have the rights to use Constantine for any project, but it hasn’t been for a lack of trying. From the looks of it, Reeves would be on board and everything else would otherwise be all set to go, but Lawrence just can’t seem to get the call back from the necessary people to turn Constantine 2 into a reality. You can read his full comment below.
“I think we all wanted to do it. It was successful enough. We wanted to make a responsible, more R-rated movie. By responsible, I mean we’d make a movie that wouldn’t cost quite as much as the original, which we thought was going to be PG-13. We worked on the sequel for a while. It was tricky to come up with where to take it. What I really liked about the first one was it was a really personal story, so I thought it’d be a mistake to get caught up in the supernatural gobbledygook.”
“The idea of a personal story was really interesting, and that was the hard thing to come across. We have been talking about it recently. It’s always stuck with all of us because we all love the movie, and especially realizing there’s a real cult following for this movie, it’d be fun to make. Keanu, Akiva, and I have actually talked about it. Unfortunately, I don’t even remember who has it, but with all these shared universes that exist now, with Constantine being a part of Vertigo, which is a part of DC, people have plans for these shared universes. You know, possibly different Constantines and things like that. Right now, we don’t have that character available to us for TV or movies, which is a bummer. We all investigated it, but I think it’s kind of crazy when you have Keanu, who would love to do another Constantine, and us wanting to do another Constantine, and people are like, ‘Uh, no, we got other plans.’ We’ll see what happens.”
If there was ever a perfect time to make another Constantine, it would appear that we are in that era. The movie has only grown more popular in the years after its release, and chances are, the sequel would perform much better than the original when it first premiered. Keanu Reeves has also become one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors since appearing in the original Constantine, and there’s immense excitement from fans to see him in upcoming sequels for other Reeves-led hit movie franchises like John Wick, Bill & Ted, and The Matrix.
Maybe Constantine 2 might be too much to ask for if J. J. Abrams is really developing a new movie of his own, but in any case, it would still be amazing if we got to see Reeves back in the role in one way or another. If Warner Bros. can work Michael Keaton’s Batman into a Flash movie, then there’s got to be some way to write in Reeves’ Constantine somewhere else. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. This news comes to us from Slash Film.
