We learned last year that Warner Bros. was developing a long-belated sequel to Constantine, but that was a very different time. Since then, James Gunn and Peter Safran have taken over DC Studios, which has led to the cancellation of a handful of projects that don’t fit into the new universe. Rumours began circulating last week that Constantine 2 had suffered a similar fate, but thankfully that’s not the case.
A Warner Bros. spokesperson reached out to Entertainment Weekly to confirm that Constantine 2 has not been scrapped. That said, little has been heard about the Constantine sequel, but as the new DC Universe slate includes a Swamp Thing movie, it stands to reason that James Gunn isn’t avoiding the darker aspects of the franchise.
Constantine 2 will feature Keanu Reeves returning to star as the cynical exorcist and demonologist. Not only that, but original director Francis Lawrence is also coming back to helm the sequel. Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend) will script the Constantine sequel and will also produce the through his Weed Road Pictures banner alongside Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella. The original Constantine movie was released in 2005 and grossed a respectable $230.9 million on a $70-100 million budget. The movie found Constantine helping an LAPD detective (Rachel Weisz) prove that her sister’s death wasn’t a suicide, but was, in fact, something much more sinister.
Francis Lawrence has teased that he would like to develop Constantine 2 with an R-rating in mind. “One of the biggest things for me about the first one was we followed, per Warner Bros., the rules to make a PG-13 movie in terms of violence, blood, language, sexuality,” Lawrence said. “But the ratings board gave us a hard R based on their the gray zone of intensity. And my big, big regret was that we have an R-rated movie that’s really a PG-13 movie. And if I was going to have to go have an R, I would have really made an R-rated movie. I would have made it much scarier and much more violent and I would have really made an R-rated movie. The idea is this time, at least for me, is to really go at it and make a real R-rated Constantine which is, I think, what people always wanted originally, not the PG-13 version that just happens to get an R.“
Aside from Keanu Reeves, Matt Ryan has played the character most frequently; first in his own live-action TV series as well as The CW’s Arrowverse. He also voiced Constantine in several animated DC projects, including Justice League Dark, Constantine: City of Demons, Justice League Dark: Apololips War, and Harley Quinn. A female version named Johanna Constantine appeared in Netflix’s The Sandman series played by Jenna Coleman. Anything could happen moving forward, but for now, Constantine 2 still lives.
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