Few films have undergone a reputational resurrection quite like Constantine. When it hit theaters in 2005, critics were unimpressed, and die-hard fans of the comic book version of John Constantine were outright hostile. The A.V. Club famously wrote that "virtually anyone but Reeves would have made a better John Constantine." The film performed modestly at the box office, pulling in decent numbers overseas but not enough to justify a sequel. And yet, nearly 20 years later, here we are — Constantine 2 is officially in the works.
Keanu Reeves has been championing a return to the role for years, and now, thanks to a combination of nostalgia, cable reruns, and the ever-expanding appetite for legacy sequels, Warner Bros. has given the green light to at least a script. Reeves recently confirmed to Inverse that DC Studios has given him and director Francis Lawrence the go-ahead to "try and write a script," marking real progress after years of speculation.
For the past two decades, Reeves' Constantine has remained in cinematic limbo, bypassing the Dark Knight trilogy, the entire MCU, the Snyderverse and even James Gunn’s upcoming reboot of the DCU. While he did lend his voice to Batman in DC League of Super-Pets, his version of Constantine has remained untouched — until now.
Interestingly, Reeves confirmed that the sequel will exist in the same continuity as the first film, meaning it won’t be shoehorned into the larger, interconnected world Gunn is building. Instead, it will remain its own dark, supernatural corner of the DC mythos, free from capes and multiversal entanglements. And according to Reeves, that means more suffering for his titular antihero: "John Constantine’s going to be tortured even more."
Reeves has become something of a reclamation artist in recent years, revisiting and revitalizing films that didn’t get their due upon release. Between John Wick installments, he returned to The Matrix for Resurrections and reunited with Alex Winter for Bill & Ted Face the Music. Now, Constantine 2 marks yet another attempt to resurrect an overlooked cult favorite.
It’s not surprising that the sequel is happening, given how Constantine has aged into something of a cult classic. The film’s brooding atmosphere, unique visual style, and supernatural-noir elements have earned it a dedicated fanbase over the years. Plus, Reeves himself has become more beloved than ever, with audiences eager to see him return to characters that never quite got their full due.
While Constantine 2 isn’t part of Gunn’s grand DCU vision, its mere existence proves that audiences are still hungry for more of Reeves’ chain-smoking, demon-hunting antihero. Now, the real question is: Can the sequel capture the same strange magic that made the first film endure? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure: John Constantine isn’t done exorcising demons just yet.
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