Is a Keanu Reeves ‘Constantine’ Sequel More Likely Without James Gunn?

It’s been over 20 years since Keanu Reeves starred as the blond English exorcist-sorcerer in the superhero-horror film Constantine. Granted, he wasn’t blond or English in the film, but that was a different time, man. Studios were more apt to take the general conceit of a comic book property and do their own thing with it. While we would see a more comic-accurate adaptation of John Constantine years later, the Reeves vehicle built up a hefty cult following, and as recently as last year, the director, Francis Lawrence, was itching to make a sequel.

In 2025, James Gunn confirmed that he had talks with Reeves about making a sequel to the film. However, he made it clear that nothing had moved forward because he had yet to read a script for the proposed movie. That was a big sticking point for Gunn during his tenure as co-head of the DCU. He didn’t want to start production on anything until a script was ready. Arguably, that could have been part of his undoing, as the folks at Skydance were apparently frustrated with his lack of plan/output. Regardless, it’s not a bad mantra to follow.

However, in a new wrinkle in the whole situation, Lawrence is claiming that there is now a script, and he’s a bit more hopeful it will see the light of day given the change of guard at DC. “Well, I’ll tell you this. Not that I want anybody to lose their jobs, so this is not like a schadenfreude kind of thing, but I will say that we’ve been trying to make Constantine 2 for 20-something years, and we have an idea, and we have a script, and we’ve been wanting to make it, and the people that were at DC were an impediment to us making it,” the director recently explained to Collider (via Deadline).

He went on to explain that everyone who would need to be on board is raring to go. That includes himself, Keanu, and producers J.J. Abrams and Akiva Goldsman, the latter of whom is, um, look, that could be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. The bottom line is that they want to see this project through and felt there were too many “obstacles” in the way. Now, with Gunn gone, the path may be a little clearer, at least in Lawrence’s eyes.

While the movie could certainly do well, it doesn’t seem like something Skydance would jump at. The company was allegedly frustrated with Gunn’s lack of emphasis on tentpole characters during his tenure as co-studio head. It seems unlikely that they would throw money behind another less-than-well-known character, regardless of the first film’s legacy or even the star attached. That said, rumors ranging from a complete reboot to selling DC to another company have been floating around since Gunn’s firing, so anything could be on the table.

I really enjoyed Constantine, and I’d be happy to see Keanu get another crack at something like that. But I’m not David Ellison, and I have the normal-sized teeth to prove it. Even with the hiring of Jeremy Latcham, the future of the DCU seems more uncertain than ever, so it’s probably not the time for them to make a sequel to a film that’s over twenty years old.