It was last year that we first learned of plans for Keanu Reeves to reprise the role of DC Comics' Hellblazer in a sequel to 2005's Constantine. Since then, a great deal has changed at Warner Bros., with the formation of DC Studios leaving many to wonder if the follow-up will be scrapped.
Before the announcement, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions were said to be developing a slate of Justice League Dark-related projects for HBO Max.
First up was a John Constantine series, with plans for Zatanna, Deadman, Swamp-Thing and more rumoured to also be in place before the supernatural heroes eventually assembled as a team (it all sounded very much like what Marvel Television did with The Defenders).
According to Variety, "The new show had been far enough into development that a lead actor was already in talks to take on the lead role, but sources [confirm] to Variety that the Max project [is] dead. Four scripts were written for the series, which was set in contemporary London."
We've heard Sope Dirisu was being lined up to play Constantine, marking the first time a non-white actor had portrayed this character on screen.
It sounds like the TV show got pretty far into development, though it's unclear what's become of Abrams' overall deal with Warner Bros. Nothing much ever materialised from it and it's apparent DC Studios won't be resurrecting any of the filmmakers' ideas as James Mangold has been tapped to helm a Swamp-Thing movie.
In a recent interview, Francis Lawrence, who helmed the 2005 Constantine movie, offered an update on the project, confirming there's currently no script.
"So 'Constantine 2' got obviously held up by the writers strike," he said. "And we had to jump through a bunch of hurdles to get control of the character again, because other people had control of the Vertigo stuff. We have control."
"Keanu and Akiva Goldsman and I have been in meetings and have been hashing out what we think the story is going to be, and there’s more meetings of those that have to happen. The script has to be written. [But we’re] really hoping that we get to do ‘Constantine 2,’ and make a real rated-R version of it."
Constantine made $250 million at the box office, but Reeves' popularity has only increased since then. Presumably, the movie will be part of the non-DCU canon projects which are set to fall under an "Elseworlds" banner.