For many years, fans of 2005’s Constantine and the DC Comics source material have been hoping to see Keanu Reeves back in the big screen role. Surprise! It’s finally happening. Warner Bros is officially developing another Constantine movie where Reeves will reteam with the director of the first film, along with J.J. Abrams being among its producers.
Francis Lawrence, who made his filmmaking debut with Constantine 17 years ago, and has since helmed much of the Hunger Games franchise, along with Water For Elephants and Red Sparrow, is set to direct the untitled return of Keanu Reeves’ John Constantine, as Deadline reports. The upcoming movie will be written by Akiva Goldsman, who co-developed the Titans series along with numerous Star Trek projects.
Goldsman will also produce the movie through his company Weed Road Pictures alongside Abrams’ Bad Robot, with Hannah Minghella also aboard the project. Back in 2020, Francis Lawrence expressed interest in returning to Constantine with the caveat that the “character was not available to us.” Now things have clearly changed, as Warner Bros Pictures Group Co-Chairs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy have reportedly shepherded a deal with the filmmakers and Reeves.
John Constantine has been between the pages of DC Comics since the character’s debut in 1985. The Keanu Reeves-led Constantine, which came out in the early days of the superhero movie boom, received mixed reviews and made $230 million worldwide at the box office, becoming the No. 15 top-grossing movie of 2005, per Box Office Mojo.
Along with Reeves starring, the original movie also featured Rachel Weisz as Angela Dodson, Shia LaBeouf as Chas, Djimon Hounsou as Midnite and Tilda Swinton as Gabriel. With such an incredible lineup, most of whom are even more famous than they were in 2005, perhaps Warner Bros is knocking on a few of their doors?
Constantine seemed to open the door for more movies starring Keanu Reeves as the supernatural exorcist and demonologist following his exciting face-off against the archangel Gabriel and Lucifer, but only now is a sequel finally being developed. The news comes a couple years after it was announced that a Justice League Dark series for HBO Max was in the works also from J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot, which memorably includes John Constantine among a team of supernatural heroes.
There hasn’t been a lot of movement on the development of Justice League Dark since its announcement, but considering J.J. Abrams is on board both Constantine-related projects, it’s very possible they could be connected. While John Constantine did have some live-action time in the CW’s Arrowverse with Matt Ryan as the character, we’re excited about how the movie will build upon Constantine’s legacy, and as one of DC’s few LGBTQ+ characters too.
While it certainly sounds like this DC movie is a ways away, it’s exciting news to hear Keanu Reeves will play Constantine again after all these years.
