Francis Lawrence, who directed 2005’s Constantine, says the shake-up at DC Studios has given him fresh hope that the long-stalled sequel might finally happen. Speaking to Collider ahead of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, IGN reports, Lawrence said the previous DC leadership stood in the way, and that he’d like to make a hard-R follow-up with Keanu Reeves.
The timing is deliberate. Lawrence spoke the day after James Gunn and Peter Safran’s exit from DC Studios was announced, with former Marvel producer Jeremy Latcham taking over. Deadline quotes him saying he doesn’t want anybody to lose their jobs, but that the people at DC were “an impediment” to making the film. He added that the team is “now more hopeful as of yesterday’s news”.
A script, a cast and no greenlight
Lawrence said he has an idea and a script, and that Reeves, writer Akiva Goldsman and producer J.J. Abrams are all still keen. The decision, he said, now sits with “people at Paramount, Warner, whoever’s running DC now”. That caveat matters, because Dark Horizons notes the project has been in development since 2022 without moving forward. Nobody at the new DC has commented, and there’s no release date.
The sequel also has competition inside DC. Earlier this month, IGN says, DC Studios hired Francis Galluppi, the Evil Dead filmmaker, to write a separate John Constantine movie, though it’s unclear whether he’ll direct. Lawrence isn’t bothered by the overlap. He said he doesn’t mind if someone plans a shared-universe version of the character, as long as his sequel to the original can coexist with it. TheWrap reports he floated exactly that: both films, side by side.
Hard R, soft budget
Lawrence said the first film was made to follow PG-13 rules but was hit with an R rating anyway, which he called an “R-rated PG-13 movie”. He said the team agreed to make the “hard-R version” next time, and that any sequel will be R-rated regardless of what the studio wants.
Money is the other trade-off. Lawrence said neither he nor Reeves would charge “full freight”, and that the film can’t be made for $100 million, so it has to be “scrappy”. He also said it would be a gamble the pair want to take responsibly. That fits Reeves’ earlier push: IGN says he reportedly pitched a sequel to DC Studios in 2025.
For now, DC’s near-term slate hasn’t changed. Gunn is still expected to finish Superman: Man of Tomorrow, which recently added Andre Royo to its cast. Where a 20-year-old sequel pitch sits in Latcham’s priorities will only become clear once he takes the job. According to Dork, he starts on 1 December.
Is Constantine 2 officially happening?
No. Lawrence says a script exists and the key people want to make it, but no studio has greenlit it and no release date has been set.
Will Constantine 2 be rated R?
Lawrence says yes, in his words a “hard-R” film. He explained that the 2005 original was made with PG-13 in mind but was given an R rating anyway.
Who decides whether it goes ahead?
Lawrence says it falls to Paramount, Warner Bros. and whoever runs DC. Latcham is due to take over DC Studios on 1 December, after Gunn and Safran step down.
