Keanu Reeves Wants To Make A Long-Awaited DC Sequel
Keanu Reeves wants to return to his previous DC Comics role.
This article is more than 2 years old
Keanu Reeves has played a lot of Johns. The actor points this out in a recent interview, and he does so right before saying something that might surprise comic book movie fans. Reeves says he’d love to return to a character that marked one of his biggest critical failures to make Constantine 2.
In a video interview with Esquire, Keanu Reeves was asked whether or not he would return to the role of supernatural investigator and hell-bound hero John Constantine. Reeves immediately reacted with, “I loved playing Constantine.” Then, after musing about how many Johns he’s played — he guesses over 10, but Esquire puts it at 8 — Reeves confirms, “I’d love to have the chance to play Constantine again.” You can see the video below.
It may be a pleasant surprise for fans waiting for Constantine 2 that Keanu Reeves is up for a return. Critics panned 2005’s Constantine upon release, and it currently has an unimpressive 46% Rotten Tomatoes rating. While Esquire’s note about the film achieving a cult status may be true, when it hit theaters many fans of the source material were not happy. Reeves’ John Constantine wasn’t English or blond like the comic book version, he had powers the character of DC Comics’ Hellblazer didn’t have, and the mystic items he uses have a much more Christian theme than in the comic.
Almost a decade after Keanu Reeves’ Constantine, Welsh actor Matt Ryan took up the role for an NBC series. While the Constantine show was axed after only 13 episodes, Ryan reprised the role first for The CW’s Arrow, and later as a regular on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Staying in many ways much closer to the character’s comic book roots, Ryan is a fan-favorite in the role and has been tapped to voice animated versions in movies like 2017’s Justice League Dark and the 2020 follow up Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.
Still, there are good reasons to think we will once again see Keanu Reeves in the role of perhaps his most supernatural John. Last November Peter Stormare, who plays Satan in Reeves’ Constantine, posted a screenshot of himself from the 2005 flick. His caption was short and sweet: “Sequel in The Works.” Whether or not we see it happen, or if Reeves decides to turn his attention to yet another John, only time will tell.
By the way, in case you’re curious about the eight Johns of Keanu Reeves — they include Constantine and the titular heroes of John Wick and Johnny Mnemonic. There’s also John Harkness of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Johnny Utah of Point Break, John of Generation Um…, Don John of Much Ado About Nothing, and the voice of Johnny Silverhand in the action RPG Cyberpunk 2077. While he’s only at eight so far, Reeves is getting closer to 10. Back in 2014, it was announced Reeves would be starring in and producing the mini-series Rain, based on the Barry Eisler novels featuring the assassin anti-hero John Rain. It’s been marinading for a while, but should we eventually get an actual series, Reeves will need only one more to make 10.
