Having made no secret of their desire to reunite for a sequel to the 2005 supernatural thriller over the past few years, star Keanu Reeves and director Francis Lawrence have got their wish as Warner Bros. has given the go ahead to a Constantine sequel.
Deadline broke the news, revealing that Reeves is officially on board to reprise the role of DC Comics’ supernatural detective, with Lawrence directing from a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who produced the original film and will also do so on the sequel through his Weed Road Pictures banner.
Also on board to produce is J.J. Abrams, whose Bad Robot has been working on a Constantine television series and numerous Justice League Dark projects under a major first look deal with Warner Media and HBO Max. That deal has so far failed to yield any results, and it’s unclear at present where those projects stand in relation to this sequel, and coming out of the recent Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
UPDATE: It has now been reported by Deadine that HBO Max has passed on Abrams’ Constantine series, along with an adaptation of DC Comics’ Madame X, both of which were in development at Bad Robot. However, both Warner Bros. and Bad Robot are said to be “high” on the projects and plan to shop them to other platforms this coming week.
Francis Lawrence made his directorial debut on Constantine back in 2005, and is currently working on the upcoming prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is set for release in 2023. He’s also attached to a Bioshock movie for Netflix, and just signed on to develop a biopic of the U.S. rock group Sublime for Sony, and so it’s unclear at present where the Constantine sequel falls in his schedule, and when we might expect to see it heading before cameras.
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