Francis Lawrence is feeling renewed hope for Constantine 2 following James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios exit. After spending nearly 20 years trying to get the sequel off the ground, the film might finally be catching a break. Keanu Reeves is still waiting to slip back into John Constantine’s coat, and apparently, he is not the only one refusing to give up. Hollywood loves a comeback, but this one has been stuck in development longer than some franchises have been alive.

While Keanu Reeves keeps John Constantine’s coat pressed and ready after two decades, a sudden shake-up at DC Studios may finally have given Francis Lawrence a reason to hope.

Francis Lawrence has renewed hope for Constantine 2 after James Gunn and Peter Safran left DC Studios as co-heads. The director has chased the sequel for 20-something years. A script and an idea already exist.

“If they just let us do the sequel to our version, they can coexist,” Lawrence told Collider.

He then added, “So, I have renewed hope as of yesterday that there might be some possibility for forward movement there.”

Even a fresh DC take on John Constantine would leave room for Keanu Reeves to return.

Lawrence told Collider that the people previously running DC impeded the sequel, though he stressed that no schadenfreude was involved and nobody should lose a job. Reeves, Akiva Goldsman, and J.J. Abrams all remain committed, so the team was never the obstacle. The next task is getting Paramount, Warner, and whoever runs DC now to back a follow-up to the original Constantine. Reeves said in February 2025 that DC Studios approved the pitch, with Goldsman reportedly writing the script.

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As Constantine 2 waits for a green light, the first Constantine already proved that skipping the comic playbook pays off.

Last year, Keanu Reeves and Francis Lawrence revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Constantine never tried to copy the comic book version of John Constantine. The conversation with host Josh Horowitz marked the film’s 20th anniversary. Lawrence loved the spirit of the character but saw no rule saying John Constantine had to be blonde. The team skipped the English accent, and the coat turned brown instead of the comic’s black.

Lawrence moved the story from the comic’s Liverpool to Los Angeles, chasing a modern noir mood shaped by The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, and Jim Thompson novels. Reeves stuck to filming in Los Angeles when Toronto usually doubled for the city. The film became a hit, proving a comic adaptation can succeed without playing copycat. If a brown coat could win once, Constantine 2 should not need much convincing.

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What are your thoughts on Constantine 2 after James Gunn’s DC exit? Let us know in the comments.