The man described as “the internet’s boyfriend” is currently best known for his role as John Wick — and some ancillary public stuff that people just love. But the actor himself would prefer to be best known for his role in the 2005 warlock movie Constantine. Because Keanu Reeves has never been what we’d call ‘predictable.’ And it seems he doesn’t always agree with his fans.
Keanu Reeves admitted that he has ‘always wanted’ to play Constantine again
In an interview on Variety’s movie podcast The Big Ticket in 2019, Reeves admitted something a little unexpected. “I’ve always wanted to play John Constantine again,” Reeves told Variety. “I just love that world, too, and I love that character. I just had a blast playing a character and [playing] in that world.”
It was a bit of a surprise to Reeves fans — the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure star is a remarkably prolific actor, and many of his roles were far more popular with Reeves’ devotees. Constantine didn’t do badly, per se. But his deadpan performance earned mixed reviews (a lackluster critical score of only 46% on Rotten Tomatoes) and, according to comicbook.com, it only made $250 million against a $100 million budget.
Reeves also called it his ‘best character’ ever, according to Cracked. Reeves enthusiasts have questioned how The Matrix didn’t end up with this distinguished honor, and they’ve never quite been able to figure it out
There is also a TV series of the same name
It turns out that Constantine’s lukewarm critical reception wasn’t an accurate barometer for how the cult followers felt. And Reeves fans are a decidedly different breed than Constantine fans. Constantine is also an NBC TV series starring Matt Ryan. It only ran one season between 2014 and 2015, but it was a tangible testament to a growing cult fandom. The show was also said to be much more faithful to the actual Hellblazer comics than the film.
More recently, HBO Max announced a reboot, sans Reeves or Ryan. The series is reportedly being developed as a “darker reboot” by J.J. Abrams and writer Guy Bolton alongside HBO. Little is known about the series, but Deadline reported that Constantine will be re-envisioned as a London youth and that Bolton has completed a pilot script.
An official film sequel is rumored to be in the works
Actor Peter Stormare, who played Lucifer in the 2005 movie, took to Instagram last November to casually throw it out that a sequel is in the works. The caption read simply “Sequel In The Works,” alongside an image of Stormare as Lucifer.
The post hasn’t been officially confirmed, but Constantine buffs latched onto hope and exploded with enthusiasm over the possibility in the comments. “I have three wishes!” read a comment by @vaxevanis.vaggelis. “Keanu as Constantine, the same director (I don’t remember his name), and Stormare as the Satan! The most successful recipe! Tested and it works!!”
The director was Francis Lawrence, and it happens that he also has discussed the possibility of a sequel. In a July 2020 interview with Slashfilm, Lawrence admitted that the cult following was encouraging. “We have been talking about it recently,” he told SlashFilm. “It’s always stuck with all of us because we all love the movie, and especially realizing there’s a real cult following for this movie, it’d be fun to make. Keanu, Akiva, and I have actually talked about it.”
So it looks like Keanu Reeves may get his wish to revisit his favorite movie role, after all — but Reeves’ groupies might be more likely to catch another viewing of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum instead.
