Keanu Reeves has starred in countless sequels, some of them popular (John Wick: Chapter 2 and Chapter 3), some of them less so (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions). But to date, no sequel to his 2005 feature Constantine has gotten off the ground. That’s not for a lack of enthusiasm, though.
Director Francis Lawrence gave some enlightening comments to /Film recently about the status of a possible Constantine 2, saying that he and Reeves have spoken about making it. However, several major obstacles stand in the way of it ever happening.
Here’s what he had to share:
“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. 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, 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.”
It’s unfortunate for fans who want to see Lawrence and Reeves working together again. But thankfully, it’s not all bad news. There’ve been numerous stories floating around the internet about the mooted DCEU Constantine reboot. Keanu Reeves is reportedly close to returning to the role in that film, too. And if it gets confirmed, then it would seem Lawrence is a little out of the loop. Either way, we imagine it won’t be long now before we hear more on the character’s big screen future. In fact, the film’s upcoming 15th anniversary panel seems like it’ll bring some goodies.
Tell us, though, what are your thoughts on Lawrence’s comments? Would you prefer a direct sequel to his Constantine, or are you more interested in a reboot? Whoever’s pulling the strings and whoever’s in front of the camera, hopefully this time the results will be a little more even. Actually, the more I think about it, the more J.J. Abrams and Keanu Reeves as partners in crime appeals to me. Make it happen, Warner Bros.