Keanu’s Constantine 2 Needs James Gunn More Than It Needs the DCU

Fans have waited years for Keanu Reeves to return as John Constantine. In fact, Reeves’ Constantine and John Wick have become two of the actor’s most enduring cult characters existing in their own wildly different worlds. 

Does Keanu’s Constantine 2 really need to be a part of the DCU to succeed? The answer may lie outside the DCU altogether. What it needs more is James Gunn’s creative direction, and let Constantine be in his own dark, supernatural story.

Reeves has pushed for the sequel several times to Warner Bros., which owns the screen rights to DC properties like Constantine. According to Deadline, Reeves pitched the sequel. 

“We’ve [along with director Francis Lawrence] been trying to make this film for over a decade, and we just recently put a story together and pitched it to DC Studios, and they said, ‘OK.’ So, we’re going to try and write a script.” [Source]

James Gunn has discussed Constantine 2 with Keanu Reeves “on and off,” but he has not read the script yet. Reeves and Lawrence want to make it a hard-R sequel and have been playing along with several ideas after going through a bunch of comics over the years. 

This is where James Gunn could become crucial. His willingness to move forward with a project ultimately depends on a completed script and the strength of the story. But since Gunn hasn’t read the script, it is seemingly a long way from production approval.  

When the first Constantine movie came out in 2005, Reeves was young, and in the sequel, his age could make the character more interesting. Reeves is now the perfect age for a mature Constantine, and a perfect hard-R sequel definitely makes sense. 

The older Constantine could be more cynical, more knowledgeable, yet more exhausted, more haunted by his past, and probably less interested in saving everyone. His experience could become part of the story rather than showing that 20 years have passed. 

Gunn could be a perfect fit with his blockbuster Superman (2025) and close-to-comic adaptation of Supergirl (2026), which was not as impressive in theaters as the former. He understands the comic-book mythology and has experience balancing darkness with character-driven storytelling. 

He has already demonstrated that comic-book movies need to follow one formula and would be able to protect what makes Constantine different. It doesn’t necessarily mean he should direct the film, but his involvement could add value to the character that would have its unique identity, as he did with Superman and Supergirl, despite being related. 

Will Keanu’s Constantine 2 be in the DCU?

Constantine 2 doesn’t need the DCU, as connecting John Constantine to the main DCU could actually create unnecessary limitations, the prime one being Constantine suddenly becoming another superhero character. 

According to Constantine Comics’ publication history, he starred in the flagship title of DC’s mature-readers imprint, Hellblazer. He later joined the mainstream DC Universe with teams like Justice League Dark. When Hellblazer was inaugurated in 1988, Constantine became part of the longest-running title under DC’s Vertigo, spanning 3000 issues. In 2011, the Vertigo version was retired, and a younger version was integrated directly into the mainstream DC Universe (The New 52).

He not only became a member but also an eventual leader of Justice League Dark, a team meant to handle magical threats the standard Justice League cannot fight. And if Constantine is kept in the main DCU in its sequel, there would be unwanted pressure to introduce Justice League connections. 

Just like the original, John Constantine should know what is waiting for him in Hell rather than knowing what Superman is doing on the other side of the planet. World-building with dispensable cameos would take the attention away from Constantine, which would increase the risk of returning to the franchise setup. 

What should a Constantine 2 story be about then? An older Constantine could mean the cost of survival is brutal. Constantine might have survived while everyone around him has either changed or died. 

Is there anything he could do about his redemption? In the 2005 movie, John committed suicide because he was intensely traumatized and overwhelmed by terrifying versions of half-angels and half-demons that no one else could see or believe. He thought finding help from adults would be crazy and was desperate to unburden the psychological weight of the supernatural world; he took his own life. He was clinically dead for two minutes but was resuscitated, which left him briefly in hell and his soul permanently damned.  

Though he escaped Hell, Hell hasn’t forgotten him. He spent his life cheating death, and his actions from the first film could have consequences decades later, which could become a strong idea for the sequel to come to life. 

And when Gunn is associated with Constantine 2, Supergirl’s dark and gritty tonal approach comes in handy. Though Gunn did not direct Supergirl himself, Milly Alcock did a phenomenal job in portraying the emotionally damaged Supergirl under the direction of Craig Gillespie. Gillespie has specifically said Gunn encouraged the DCU films to feel like individual graphic novels, and this is exactly what’s needed for Constantine 2. 

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Constantine 2 movie release date

Is there a Constantine 2 coming out? As of September 2026, Constantine 2 does not have an official release date, and there is no confirmed production or theatrical schedule.