Constantine, which was released in 2005 and is based on the comic book of the same name, came before the entire world went crazy for comic book movies. However, the Keanu Reeves film garnered a slow and steady cult following over the years, with one of its biggest champions being Reeves himself. The actor has routinely talked about how he’d like to make a Constantine 2. That’s not to mention that Warner Bros. is desperate for more comic book content as it tries to finally succeed at creating a successful slate of DC films, of which Constantine is a part. This raises the question of if there is a Constantine sequel in the works or if the movie franchise has just died out.
Constantine Movie Sequel Development Has Been a Long Road
Discussion of a sequel has been bouncing around since the first movie was released. However, the movie seemed pretty dead for more than a decade, despite the rise in popularity of superhero films thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As time passed, and more and more comic book movies came out, fans of the film started wondering why Reeves hadn’t been asked back to reprise the role, especially after John Wick established him once again as an action star.
Of course, Constantine wasn’t dead during this time entirely. NBC launched a TV series based on the character starring Matt Ryan that ran for one season before being canceled. Ryan eventually reprised the character on Arrow and other shows in the Arrowverse as well. Constantine was also set to show up in J.J. Abrams’ now-defunct Justice League Dark show. However, with that not coming to pass and the TV version of Constantine fading away, things looked dire for the anti-hero.
Then in September 2022 that all changed when it was announced that WB had finally returned to the character and partnered with Reeves to make a sequel after 17 years of languishing. The film is being written by Akiva Goldsman and produced by J.J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella. They’re even bringing back the director of the first movie as Francis Lawrence is lined up to work behind the camera. That means a Constantine movie sequel is officially in the works.
However, a lot happened after September of 2022 with DC Films. DC Studios is now led by James Gunn and Peter Safran, who are looking to do a semi-hard reset on the entire line of films. The pair announced recently their plans for the future of DC movies, laying out the groundwork for their new interconnected film and TV universe. During that, Gunn also mentioned a host of films that were still in the works from the previous regime but failed to mention Constantine 2. That left people questioning if the movie was still on the docket now that the pair had cleaned house and sparked rumors on the web that it was no longer coming.
However, as of February 2023, the movie is still in production. WB has confirmed that the film hasn’t been scrapped, but just where it will fall in Gunn and Safran’s plans is entirely unclear. It is not mentioned in the first “chapter” of films that they laid out, though a Swamp Thing film is and those two characters are both from the darker side of DC’s comics. It’s also possible that Constantine 2 will fall into the DC Elseworlds brand and exist outside of the rest of the DC Studios content, much like Matt Reeves’ BatVerse and the Joker movies do. For now, we’ll have to wait and see what DC does with the movie.
