It’s been 15 years since Keanu Reeves played a supernatural con-man in Constantine, a film adaptation of the Hellblazer comic book series from Vertigo. Considering the film never lit the box office on fire, a sequel never materialized, and the John Constantine character was later revamped for television where he bounced from NBC to The CW after that series failed to connect with viewers.
However, interest for the demon-fighting character is still there, and not just from fans. In a new interview with /Film, Constantine director Francis Lawrence reveals that he’s had talks with Reeves about a sequel, and the actor would “love” to make it happen. The only problem is that Constantine seems to be tied up in a convoluted knot of plans at Warner Bros.
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.
With Reeves returning to blockbuster prominence with the John Wick films and his upcoming return in The Matrix 4, you’d think Warner Bros. would jump at the chance to make a Constantine sequel, but apparently, they have other plans, which may have already been revealed. Back in April, HBO Max announced that it was making a live-action version of Justice League Dark with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company. Considering Constantine is a central part of that team in the comics, there’s a good chance the character is tied up with that project. But as Lawrence notes to /Film, he’s bringing Keanu to the table, which could sway conversations down the road.
(Via /Film)