Keanu Reeves has confirmed there is a story ready for the 'Constantine' sequel.
The 60-year-old actor starred in the original 2005 movie as the titular supernatural exorcist and demonologist John Constantine and while a follow-up has been stuck in limbo for some time, he's revealed he and director Francis Lawrence are moving closer to making the film happen.
He told Inverse: “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."
While the 'John Wick' star declined to share any details, he confirmed the sequel would be set in the "same world" as the first film.
He added: “We’re not going off that. John Constantine’s going to be tortured even more.”
His comments came just weeks after Francis revealed making 'Constantine 2' was "closer than ever".
He told Collider: "I will say we are closer than ever to being able to do a sequel, which is a great thing.
"And [producer Akiva Goldsman], Keanu and I are super, super excited about it.
"We have a great idea. We have gone through a bunch of the comics over the years and looked at things.
"I will say that there's probably grains from things that we're pulling, but in truth, most of it is just coming from the three of us, you know, loving the character, loving the world, having it sort of in the back of our minds for 20 years and just kind of percolating on ideas, and stories and characters we love, and ideas we love."
Late last year, the director revealed they were "now actively working on a script".
He told the same outlet in a separate interview: "So it’s really not that it’s just like, ‘Oh yeah, now we think the world is ready for it.’ I certainly think there is a bigger fan base and certainly it’s become a kind of cult classic, which has been really exciting to see and very strange, but it’s something we’ve always loved.
“We’re now in a spot where we are actively working on a script.”
Lawrence added the idea of a sequel had been floated for years, and it was only in 2020 that the ball started really rolling on the project.
He said: “The truth is, somewhere around the 15th anniversary or something, we did a Zoom and we all were discussing trying to get it up and going again. And again, we were just more active with it and finally got it past all these hurdle.”
The follow-up flick - which was announced by Warner Bros. In 2022 - will share its R-rating with its predecessor, and Lawrence stressed the second ‘Constantine’ would be more mature than the original picture.
He added: “We had been thinking about it. We had also been given an R-rating when we kind of made a PG-13 movie and followed all the PG-13 rules.
“So we’re like, ‘F*** it, let’s go and do a sequel and really make an R-rated movie. Give us an R, let us make a real R-rated movie.’ "
