Once again, Keanu Reeves has reiterated how much he would love to return to the role of John Constantine, the DC character he played in 2005’s Constantine. The film’s director, Francis Lawrence, has also stated that he would love for a sequel to happen, and while plenty of fans around the globe would no doubt agree, apparently the people with the power to make it happen are still not sold.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert intended to promote the upcoming The Matrix Resurrections, Reeves brought up Constantine when asked if there were any roles he would love to return to in the future.
“I would love to be John Constantine again,” Reeves told Colbert, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. He continued on to explain that he hadn’t had much luck with actually getting anything made, however, noting that he has tried.
Both director Francis Lawrence and producer Akiva Goldsman have spoken on the difficulties of past efforts to get the sequel made. In a panel for the film’s 15th anniversary, Goldsman mentioned that they wanted to make a “hard-R sequel,” after the original film’s production experienced a number of issues related to its rating.
Lawrence has also pointed to the complexity of shared cinematic universes as another barrier to getting Constantine 2 made, with DC comic book characters like John Constantine now potentially wrapped up in those plans. “Right now, we don’t have that character available to us for TV or movies, which is a bummer,” Lawrence explained in an interview last year. The character was most recently played by acor Matt Ryan for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow series.
We can only hope that the studios will eventually see the sense in letting Keanu Reeves be Constantine again, with the actor’s popularity only rising in recent years. The Matrix Resurrections is due in theatres and on HBO Max on December 22, while Reeves will also be starring in at least two more John Wick sequels.
