News of a Constantine sequel began long before the birth of the DCU, but with the rise of a new cinematic universe, many fans assumed the project would be put out to pasture.
However, it was confirmed in February 2023 that the project was still moving forward. More recently, a script for the sequel was turned in back in September 2024, reportedly developed by Keanu Reeves and director Francis Lawrence. According to the most recent reports, Akiva Goldsman was the last writer to revise the script.
Since that update, the project has gone dark, but we now have fresh info from Peter Stromare, who played Lucifer in the original film. Based on what he had to share, it doesn't sound like Constantine 2 is moving forward in a promising direction.
Stromare stated, "It's a lot of back and forth, because... I think Keanu [Reeves], which I know pretty good, is not so happy with the scripts and usually what comes out of the studios... Because the first one wasn't that successful in the beginning, it became a sleeper and became a cult movie, and now it is one of the biggest cult movies ever. But to do a sequel, the studios want to have, you know, cars flying in the air. They want to have people doing flip-flops and fighting action scenes."
He added, "And I think Keanu says, 'I've done 'John Wick.' This movie is spiritual. It's about demons and regular people. And I wanted to keep it that way.' And we talked about that. I want to do God coming down exactly the same way, but in a black suit and looking more or less like Lucifer from the first one. I'm 12 years older, so it's going to be hard to, you know, completely imitate the first movie. But, I think from Keanu, he wants to do a sequel that is very close to the first one."
Finally, Stromare noted that he and Keanu Reeves are both adamant about not letting the sequel take on a Marvel-style tone. They’re committed to preserving the darker, more grounded atmosphere that defined the original Constantine. "I think he wants to do his character again, Constantine, as grounded as it was in the first one. It took a long time for you to become a cult movie, it really worked, and it will work on the audience again. You don't have to add a lot of action and shootouts. You have other movies. Don't turn it into big Marvel... [Don't turn it] into us flying around in harnesses all the time and shooting each other up."
Stromare's update on the project's status is something of a gut-punch for those who have been looking forward to the sequel. Hopefully, Reeves and Lawrence can find the right scriptwriter to take the project in a new direction.