The character of John Constantine has cropped up in various DC properties over the past few years, including the animated film Justice League: Dark , numerous appearances in the Arrowverse and his eponymous television series, portrayed by Matt Ryan. Despite the frequency of these appearances, a new solo film for the character has not been seen in over a decade.
The Direct recently reported that a Constantine project is in the works at Warner Bros., with J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot heading the production for the film. The project would also be accompanied by a television series for HBO Max, also centering around the character.
John Constantine's appearance on the big screen dates back a while, however, with the release of Constantine in 2005, headlined by Keanu Reeves in the lead role. The director of the film has now spoken 15 years later about the prospects of a sequel to the film...
NEWS
In an interview with SlashFilm , Constantine director Francis Lawrence spoke about the potential of making a sequel to the film.
“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.
Lawrence discussed the difficulties with developing a sequel, not wanting to veer too far from the personal journey of the first film.
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 gobblygook. The idea of a personal story was really interesting, and that was the hard thing to come across.
Lawrence also expressed how many people involved with the original film were interested in returning for another, including producer Akiva Goldsman and actor Keanu Reeves.
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.
Lawrence also acknowledged the idea and planned out nature of shared universes, such as the DCEU and the Arrowverse, have potentially hindered the possibility of a sequel to Constantine .
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.”
When the interviewer noted that it would be ridiculous not to greenlight a Keanu Reeves-led Constantine sequel, Lawrence responded by saying, “I know. I agree. I’m with you, man. It’s not for a lack of trying.”
WHAT THIS MEANS
As implied by the interviewer and Lawrence himself, Keanu Reeves has been in the zeitgeist for an extended amount of time. The actor has appeared in countless properties to critical success and positive audience response, from the John Wick franchise, to Bill and Ted Face The Music , to the upcoming videogame Cyberpunk 2077 .
And with Reeves supposedly being interested in returning to the character, capitalizing on the actor's continued presence in the limelight could potentially mean great success for a Constantine sequel. As DC is experimenting with different versions of characters appearing in different mediums, such as the existence of The Flash in both television and film, there is always potential for the company to take a chance at having a separate universe where Keanu Reeves can continue in the role.
Whether John Constantine appears in a continuation to the Keanu Reeves story or in an entirely new film from Bad Robot, hopefully fans will be able to see the character on the big screen again soon.
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