A potential Constantine 2 has been languishing in production hell (pun intended) for some time now, with the star of the original 2005 movie, Keanu Reeves, having admitted to Inverse last week that he and others have “been trying to make this film for over a decade”. Despite having first announced his intention to return to the role in 2022, the actor finally confirmed in the same interview that they “just recently put a story together and pitched it to DC Studios”, who have given their blessing to produce a script.
However, this does not yet mean that DC Studio co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran will be integrating Keanu Reeves’ version of Constantine into their unfolding cinematic universe, while this development has also made it all the more apparent that their plans for future DCU productions in no way hinge on the demon-fighting curmudgeon that is Constantine. Even after all this, there’s always the very real chance that they decide to just reboot the character altogether.
Still, Gunn and Safran have proven themselves to be nothing if not creatively open and flexible with how their DCU is developed, so long as he feels it fits into the bigger picture, of course. Their recent and surprising greenlight for Clayface movie is a prime example of this, which wasn’t even on their radar until they read the script from famed horror director Mike Flanagan. Now, it’s seemingly on the fast-track to production as it was only announced in December but has already found a director in Speak No Evil’s James Watkins.
However, the difference here is that Constantine 2 doesn’t even appear to have an official script yet, just the presumable outline of a story that was pitched to DC and an apparent prospective script that a producer working with Reeves was previously afraid to read, though whatever they presented was evidently good enough to elicit the drafting of an official script. Still, it must impress the DC Studios duo enough for them to give it the go-ahead, but this is nonetheless a promising development for Reeves and his co-creatives.
Speaking of which, as for those who are working with Reeves, when the sequel was first announced two-and-a-half years ago, Francis Lawrence, who made his directorial debut on the first movie, was slated to put his unique spin on this demon-infested world yet again, while original producer Akiva Goldsman was also set to return. JJ Abrams, who had previously tried and failed to get a Constantine TV show off the ground, was also said to be involved, with his company Bad Robot producing the project. However, things have since changed, as Gunn and Safran are now running DC and taking it in a direction of their own, so it’s difficult to say if Goldsman and Abrams will have an part in the production if it is ultimately greenlit, but as things stand Lawrence is still working closely with Reeves, who has offered his full support for the director to return.
It will likely be some time before we hear further updates on Constantine 2, and if it will even happen at all, but if a good enough script is produced that can impress James Gunn and Peter Safran, then we may yet see Keanu Reeves fulfil his dream of playing one of his career-favourite characters yet again.