J.J. Abrams' Constantine and Madame Xanadu TV Series Dead at HBO Max
The DC multiverse of movies and television shows has been in a unique state of flux in recent years, with a wide array of projects being put into development amid various behind-the-scenes changes. Fans have been curious to see what DC projects would flourish under the new regime of Warner Bros. Discovery — and now, we just got one of the most surprising updates yet, in the form of a sequel to 2005's Keanu Reeves-led Constantine movie. The news of the sequel, which would see the return of Reeves and director Francis Lawrence, has already led fans to wonder what that means for the previously-reported Constantine HBO Max series, — and now, it looks like we have our answer. In Variety's reporting of the Reeves-led sequel, the outlet reveals that the Constantine series, as well as the Madame X HBO Max series, are dead at HBO Max.
The reporting reveals Warner Bros. Television and J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot are still on board with both projects, and expect to find a new home for them elsewhere. HBO Max had reportedly been in early talks with an actor to portray John Constantine before the new movie was put into the works, and four scripts had been written. The Madame X series is produced and showrun by Angela Robinson. Both shows were set to be part of a Justice League Dark shared universe of shows, which fans believed also include the Emerald Fennell-penned Zatanna movie.
"There are lots of things about her that felt like they could be really, really interesting," Fennell told Empire Magazine in an interview earlier this year. "And it'll be an opportunity to make something really quite dark. And that appealed to me, to make something big and scary. I love that stuff."
These are just the latest projects developed under an overall deal between Abrams and Warner Bros. to not come to fruition, following his original sci-fi series Demimonde. There's also the Batman: Caped Crusader animated series that Abrams has been developing alongside Bruce Timm and The Batman director Matt Reeves, which is reportedly being shopped around to other streamers like Netflix, Amazon, and Apple after being turned down by HBO Max last month.
What do you think of the fate of Constantine and Madame X at HBO Max? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.