Finally, after more than 15 years, we’re getting a sequel to Constantine starring Keanu Reeves.
Reeves played the role of the warlock detective John Constantine in the 2005 film, and according to Deadline, we’re getting another round. Francis Lawrence, the director of the original film, is set to return. Interestingly the original Constantine was his first film, but he has since directed I Am Legend, all of The Hunger Games sequels, Red Sparrow, and is set to adapt the video game BioShock for Netflix.
The sequel will be written by Akiva Goldsman, who wrote A Beautiful Mind, Star Trek: Picard, and I Am Legend. J.J Abrams’ production company Bad Robot is set to produce the film alongside Goldsman’s production company, Weed Road Pictures. In addition to Reeves, the original film starred Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou, and Peter Stormare as Lucifer Morningstar. It’s unclear whether any of these actors will return for the sequel, which is ⏤ as of this writing ⏤ untitled.
It’s somewhat interesting that the film did not have a sequel sooner, as the original Constantine made over double its budget back, grossing $230 million at the box office on a budget close to $100 million. It’s also one of the more popular films amongst DC fans despite being 17 years old. Keanu Reeves himself was having trouble finding people to make the film back in December of 2021, so obviously he managed to finally have some luck in that area.
The original film was a loose adaptation of DC’s Hellblazer, Constantine’s main comic book. John Constantine is one of DC’s more obscure characters even though we’ve gotten multiple adaptations of the character. In CW shows like Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, he was played by Matt Ryan, who went on to reprise his role in animated versions of the character. More recently in Netflix’s The Sandman, a female version of the character named Johanna Constantine was portrayed by Jenna Coleman.
Reeves himself is all about sequels these days, with Bill & Ted Face the Music releasing in 2020, The Matrix Resurrections releasing in 2021, and John Wick 4 set to release in 2023. There’s no word on when the film will be released, but we’ve waited long enough for a Constantine sequel, so we can easily wait a little bit longer.
