Action legend Keanu Reeves teams up for a second time with director Francis Lawrence 17 years later for a revamp of one of DC’s beloved dark characters, John Constantine . Recent confirmation for the sequel of Constantine has fans saying “finally!” When Lawrence’s original Constantine, script by Akiva Goldsman, hit the screens back in 2005 it generated over $230 million in box offices worldwide and overtime, a strong fan base . In the first film, Reeves plays troubled John Constantine, a supernatural exorcist and demonologist with the ability to communicate with both angels and demons. Constantine also struggles with redeeming himself after attempting suicide. However, that self-centered pursuit actively hinders his exorcism and hurts those around him. A heavy influence by Christian ideologies are obviously supported by climatic moments like Constantine in the middle of battle between archangel Gabriel and Lucifer. This adaptation of the DC character, who first appeared in an issue of Swamp Thing in 1985, quickly took to audiences all over. With successful numbers in the box office many people are wondering why this sequel took almost two decades for approval.
Out of the many faces played by Keanu Reeves, such as Neo in the Matrix franchise, for years he shared that he would most certainly enjoy the reprise of the role John Constantine. According to a recent interview with the Collider, Lawrence revealed that there were a lot of pre-existing plans to navigate through for the character, as well as the various properties attached to it. As stated earlier, this is not John Constantine’s first appearance as he has made several over the years. Recently, actor Matt Ryan has taken the role back to its original image of a British Blond haired man on DC Legends of Tomorrow, quite the contrast from the Lawrence/Reeve version.
“It’s something that we’ve been talking about since we made Constantine because we all loved it. So we’ve been talking about it, talking about it, talking about it. All the DC [properties], because Vertigo is part of DC, that sort of like the control of those properties got complicated with Warner Bros. with DC, with JJ [Abrams]’s deal, you know, all those kinds of things. There’s a lot of complicating factors. So it was never Akiva, and Keanu, and I happen to be sort of convinced to do it. It was really trying to figure out how we can get some sort of control over the Constantine character again.”
Mr. Keanu, set to return as the main character, and Akiva, to write the script, lets fans know that they can expect another exciting film with some possible new twist. The original Constantine ends with Reeves dying, keeping demons from breaching Earth, and trying to save his soul, so ultimately there is a lot of room for a storyline almost 2 decades later. Many fans call into question whether or not the rest of the original cast will be joining the sequel. The main cast includes Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Djimon Hounsou, and Gavin Rossdale.
Although we hope for reappearances if the story line permits, like LaBeouf, the thought of a sequel and seeing Reeves as the star is enough for fans for now. There is no release date set right now, as much of the production is still in the earlier blueprint stages. Goldsman still has a script to finish and details like casting are still being worked out by Lawrence and his team. We look forward to more details and a release date in the nearby future as Keanu Reeves is set to reprise his role as John Constantine in Constantine 2, directed by Francis Lawrence.
