Although it wasn’t that long ago that reports circulated that Keanu Reeves might return for a sequel to his 2005 film Constantine, Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of the DC antihero, it now looks like DC Studios is going in another direction with the character. According to a Deadline report, DC has tapped Francis Galluppi to write a new script based on the John Constantine character. Presumably, this will be a whole new iteration of the long-running supernatural antihero, probably set in the DCU. Galluppi recently wrote and will soon direct Evil Dead Wrath, which comes out in 2028. It will be the seventh entry in the Evil Dead franchise.
John Constantine first appeared in Alan Moore’s legendary Swamp Thing run, back in 1985. The chain-smoking, trenchcoat-wearing British occult detective was a supporting character who quickly grew in popularity. Two years later, DC Comics spun him off into his own series, Hellblazer, which ran for 25 years and lasted a whopping 300 issues. That series was largely unconnected to DC’s main continuity, under the Vertigo imprint. Several high-profile writers got their start writing Hellblazer, including Garth Ennis, Jamie Delano, and Brian Azzarello. He became DC’s most high-profile bisexual protagonist. In modern comics, DC has folded him into its larger universe, making him a member of Justice League Dark.
A New Constantine Film Should Go the R-Rated, Lower-Budget, Clayface Route
Aside from the 2005 film with Keanu Reeves, which reimagined John Constantine as an American, the character also starred in a short-lived TV series starring Matt Ryan. Despite that show’s cancellation, Ryan reprised the role in the CW Arrowverse, on Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, and The Flash. He also voiced John Constantine in several animated projects, including several films and a Constantine web series. Constantine as a concept probably doesn’t need a huge budget. Despite its use of the supernatural, it calls for more of a street-level take. We could see DC Studios going the lower-budget, R-rated Clayface route with this one. That seems like the logical way to go. We just hope he still wears his necktie loose and messy.