Keanu Reeves' Constantine Sequel in Story Breaking Stage, To Expand on Themes of Original

Keanu Reeves's long-awaited sequel to Constantine is still coming -- but slowly. The production is currently still in the story-breaking stage, meaning that they have not yet finalized a premise and outline for the screenwriters to work from. What producers and director Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games franchise) do know is that they plan to expand the world of the 2005 film, and expand on that movie's themes, so that it feels like a genuine sequel, and not just like they decided to put Reeves in another Constantine movie 20 years later.

Constantine 2, which comes after years of lobbying by Reeves, was one of the first DC projects announced by Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022. Prior to the announcement, JJ Abrams had been developing a slate of HBO Max originals based on DC's "dark" characters, but all of those projects, including a rumored series featuring John Constantine, never materialized. Abrams will produce the Constantine sequel.

"We're starting with two projects that are fun and very much Warners; the sequel to I Am Legend, with Will and Michael B. Jordan, and the sequel to Constantine with Keanu Reeves that Francis Lawrence is going to direct," writer Akiva Goldsman, who recently signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, told Deadline. "So I'm coming out of the gate fast. We're doing it with JJ Abrams, and Francis and Keanu and I have been pretty deep in the story breaking stage."

"This is a credit to Keanu, who endlessly has said, 'this is the character I want to return to,'" Goldsman added. "Finally, he said it enough times that it stuck." Reeves' revival in the John Wick films surely helped the cause. The new film expands on the themes the original brought, about maintaining the barrier between earth and the evil creatures that are on the other side. The character is very much Keanu and the way he and Francis saw the world of good and evil, and the wonderful and authentic noir where there is a world behind the world of good and evil coexist with our world right up close. Beyond that, we are still discovering it as I am writing the script."

"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," Reeves said recently. "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 realize that dream."

There is not yet any official start date for production on Constantine 2, or any planned release window for the film.