Picture it: the year 2005. You roll up to your local AMC, rocking a trucker hat and skinny jeans. You buy a ticket for ‘Constantine’ starring Keanu Reeves. Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” plays in the lobby as you get your Coke and popcorn. You leave the theater 2 hours later and never think of Constantine again. Until now, 17 years later, when Warner Bros. announces that Keanu Reeves will return for a Constantine sequel. In addition to Reeves, director Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games films) will also be returning to helm the screenplay written by Akiva Goldsman (Titans, Star Trek: Picard). No additional casting announcements have been made, and the film does not yet have a release date.
Constantine, which starred Reeves as the titular brooding exorcist from DC Comics’ Hellblazer series, also featured Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Djimon Hounsou, and Peter Stormare. The film grossed $230.9 million worldwide, but received mixed reviews from critics, with a 46 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Sequels have stalled in development, while the character found new life in NBC’s live-action 2014 Constantine TV series, where Constantine was played by Matt Ryan. Despite being cancelled after one season, Ryan reprised his role in various series in the Arrowverse, and lent his voice to DC animated films and series.
A new Constantine series was in development at HBO Max, but those plans have been scrapped in favor of the sequel film. Constantine was also rumored to join HBO Max’s Justice League Dark series, which has also been halted in the wake of the Warner Bros. Discover merger and CEO David Zaslav’s restructuring of DC properties. A new variation on the character, Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman), made her debut in Netflix’s The Sandman. Johanna quickly became a fan-favorite, with many clamoring for the character to get her own spinoff series.
A Constantine sequel makes sense…I guess? Keanu Reeves’s career has never been hotter, and in terms of rebuilding the DC film slate, he’s a solid bet. But still, it’s surprising to see a sequel greenlit 17 years after the first film, and especially one with such a lackluster fan base. After all, there haven’t been any Snyder Cut-level fan campaigns or public calls for a sequel. But maybe Warner Bros. knows something we don’t.
(via Deadline, featured image: Warner Bros.)
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