Last year, we learned that John Wick star Keanu Reeves will reprise the role of John Constantine in a sequel to the 2005 movie. Francis Lawrence is stepping back into the director's chair, while Akiva Goldsman has been tapped to work on the screenplay with him.
Constantine may have Americanized DC Comics' Hellblazer, but the movie's following has only increased since it was first released. As for Reeves, he's more popular now than ever before.
Whether this planned sequel will fit into what DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran are plotting for the DCU remains to be seen, but excitement for the follow-up remains high.
Now, on the eve of DC Studios' initial slate being revealed to the world, Reeves has shed some light on how his persistence played a role in getting Warner Bros. to make this long-awaited sequel.
"I don't know if it was unfinished business but it was definitely a role that I loved. And I thought that Francis Lawrence, the director, did such amazing work," he tells Total Film (via /Film). "I loved playing that character, and I really enjoyed the film. I was like, [adopts Oliver Twist voice] 'Can I please have some more?'"
"I kept asking almost every year," Reeves adds. "I'd be like, 'Can I please?' [and] they'd be like, 'No, no!'"
Adding that the team working on Constantine 2 is "just starting to try and put a story together," Reeves somewhat tempered expectations by making it clear it's still early days for this one.
"It's exciting. It's almost like an open playground that we can hopefully cook something up and play in, and I guess get out of the playground and prepare a meal. But I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully it can happen. You don't know how these things go. But I'm definitely going to try my darndest to try and realise that dream."
So, it's still in the works, but clearly far from guaranteed at this stage. It would be a shame for the movie to fall by the wayside, but last year's announcement did seem a little too good to be true!
It's certainly possible Reeves will be the DCU's Constantine, especially as Warner Bros. Discovery has scrapped J.J. Abrams' HBO Max series starring Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù. If so, fans will need to accept that this version of the character is American, but it wasn't a huge issue over a decade and a half ago, so we're sure it won't be too controversial, especially with Reeves returning.
Constantine 2 doesn't currently have a release date.