Constantine Star Wants A New Role In The Next Movie
After years of speculation, Constantine 2 is finally happening. The original movie, based on the Hellblazer comics, was filmed in 2005, and talk of a sequel has been swirling around since almost immediately after its release. Screen Rant reveals that Peter Stormare, who played Satan in the original, wants to take on the opposite role of God in the new movie.
When Constantine was released almost 20 years ago, it was met with middling reviews and underperformed at the box office but built up a cult following after its release on DVD. It was based on the DC horror comic series Hellblazer, which ran from 1988 to 2013 and has seen the likes of Allan Moore, Garth Ennis, and Jamie Delano at its helm. Talk of making a Constantine 2 began in 2006, with star Keanu Reeves passionately advocating the project, but it was only green lit by Warner Bros. this year.
Peter Stormare told Screen Rant that the long wait has been making him nervous, because making a sequel like Constantine 2 is a delicate balance of timing. A sequel that comes too soon risks oversaturating the market and striking out with both reviewers and the box office but making a sequel too long after the original can also risk losing the public’s interest. The actor mentioned Godfather III as an example, but Keanu Reeves himself has the Matrix series as examples of both dynamics.
However, there are also movies with a long time between sequels that have resurrected interest in the settings and characters they are reviving. Top Gun: Maverick is one such example, setting records at the box office this year. Constantine 2 will have many of the same figures at the helm of its production as the first, with Francis Lawrence returning to direct a screenplay by veteran writer Akiva Goldsman.
While Peter Stormare said in the interview that he was nervous about a sequel, he is also the only actor besides Keanu Reeves, who is announced in the cast of Constantine 2. Goldman will also be a producer on the project, as will J.J. Abrams and Transformers movie franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. With Lawrence directing and he and Reeves starring, Peter Stormare may be nervous but has the faith that is such a part of the Hellblazer series.
“It’s hard to read sequels, and threequels, and fourquels,” he said. “But, you know, hopefully it will be made, and hopefully I’m God at that time, looking exactly the same, but with a black suit.” This vision of a mirror image of the Satan character, who wore a white suit as he menaced hero John Constantine with supernatural taunts, is very much suited to the Hellblazer universe. Now that Constantine 2 is happening, it will be curious to see if the script will grant his request.
The first Constantine movie is available on HBO Max, and a short-lived series that was aired on CW as part of the Arrowverse is now exclusively on DirecTV. Keanu Reeves has always been enthusiastic about the character, and his portrayal is so different from the comic books that it’s a signature portrayal. With both Reeves and Peter Stormare on board, and a director and script in development, Constantine 2 is no longer speculation but reality.
