Those who loved the first “Constantine,” the 2005 film adaptation of the DC comic “Hellblazer,” will have plenty of good reasons to eagerly await its sequel. Starring a charismatic Keanu Reeves as an exorcist and demon hunter fighting to maintain the balance between Hell and Heaven, the title quickly became a cult among fans of the original series, thanks to the excellent transposition of the dark atmospheres as well as maintaining the effective mix of horror and paranormal.
After almost twenty years, rumors about a sequel have become more and more insistent in the world of the internet, until the director Francis Lawrence, already author of the first film, made official the beginning of the work in 2022. Keeping intact the expectations of the fans, the director was keen to clarify during an interview with The Wrap that the sequel would not have rating limits, aiming with high probability to create a title forbidden to minors.
On his ambitions for the project, he said first: “We have ideas that are very early and in the making. And Keanu and I have been fighting for a while to make the movie the way we always wanted to make it. It’s just that we’ve finally gotten over the first hurdle and we can move forward, and we really will. Now we just have to roll up our sleeves and dive in. We have a lot of ideas.” As for the possibilities of not having an age restriction, he added: “One of the most important things to remember is that for the first movie we had to follow Warner Bros. rules, rules for making a PG-13 movie in terms of violence, blood, language, sexuality. But if you remember, Constantine was actually given an R rating. That was because of the gray area of intensity. And my big, big regret was that we have an R-rated movie that is really a PG-13 movie. If I really wanted to make an R-rated movie, I would have made it a lot scarier and a lot more violent.”
Once we learned of the director’s aspirations, we had to wait a long time before receiving news on “Constantine 2.” With delays due to last year’s actors’ and screenwriters’ strike, the latest updates arrived only in July, when Keanu Reeves, a guest on The Late Show with Steven Colbert, reassured those present by updating them on the work on the screenplay : “The noes that we were being told started to become maybes and those maybes started to become yeses… and now I’m waiting for a script.”
As has been known for some time, the writing of the script has been entrusted to Akiva Goldsman, who already wrote the screenplay for the prequel. Goldsman himself spoke at the latest San Diego Comic-Con, giving further reassurances about the project. The writer confirmed that the film's development is proceeding according to plan and that all energies are focused on finishing the script: «It's going well. I'm writing a screenplay on Constantine 2. It's good. I hope to have a screenplay for my partners soon».
As of today, the script for “Constantine 2” seems finally ready and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura doesn’t hide his fears about having to read the final result. Given the hype that has built up over time, the well-known producer revealed to Comicbook.com that he needs the necessary calm before exposing his evaluations of the work done: “Right now the script is in my inbox. The funny thing is, I’m too scared to read it. I really want the movie to be good. I’ll probably read it in the next few days when I get on a plane.”
Among other curiosities, there is the possibility that the new Constantine could become part of the DC Universe led by James Gunn, although it will most likely be placed among the titles that will not follow the main thread, a bit like what happened with the recent “Joker - Folie à Deux” by Todd Phillips. For this reason too, all that remains is to wait for all the next updates, and hopefully this time as soon as possible.