To paraphrase an oft-utilized Mark Twain quote, rumors of the Keanu Reeves Constantine sequel's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Amid a recent rumor from Twitter's leaker community claiming that Keanu Reeves' heralded Constantine sequel -- a long-belated follow-up to the 2005 film -- was canceled, a Warner Bros. spokesperson got in touch with EW to debunk any such notion. The report, now proven as fiction, tapped into the understandable fears of fans since the studio's recently reorganized parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has spent the past few months making substantial cuts to film and television content under its corporate umbrella. Moreover, the Reeves-led Constantine 2 was conspicuously missing from the recently unveiled DC Comics live-action slate of new DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Keanu Reeves' Surprise Constantine Return
The Constantine sequel project created quite a surprise back in September, when a report arrived revealing that Reeves was set to return, joined by the original film's director, Francis Lawrence, with a script written by Akiva Goldsman. While the report in question arrived in the middle of the aforementioned content cuts, the debunked rumor claimed that Warner greenlit Constantine 2 "in desperation" to put something on the studio's backlog beyond 2023. For now, the reason why the sequel wasn't even mentioned during Gunn and Safran's presentation remains a mystery.
False rumor notwithstanding, the belated Constantine sequel created some live-action DC upheaval in its own right since, in a zero-sum scenario, its greenlight led to the cancellation of a developing HBO Max Constantine live-action TV series. That nixed iteration would have seen Sope Dirisu (Gangs of London) don the signature trench coat of the demon-exorcising DC hero. While facing the fact that his starring role would never come to fruition, Dirisu was classy in his exit, encouraging Reeves to "Give ‘em Hell, King." Yet, given the way WBD's content cuts would increase from that point, it's reasonable to hypothesize that, even without the new movie, the HBO Max Constantine series would have met the ax.
Interestingly, the Constantine sequel always had one powerful proponent in Keanu Reeves himself. In fact, the star recently shared how badly he wishes to return despite the nearly twenty years that have passed since he last played the role. "I don't know if it was unfinished business, but it was definitely a role that I loved," he said. "And I thought that Francis Lawrence, the director, did such amazing work. I loved playing that character, and I really enjoyed the film." Reeves even confessed that he resorted to begging like a Dickensian urchin for his role reprisal. "I was like, [adopts Oliver Twist voice] 'Can I please have some more?," he added. "I kept asking almost every year. I'd be like, 'Can I please?' [and] they'd be like, 'No, no!'"
Constantine 2 (final title to be determined) has yet to reveal a release date or release window.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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