DC is making a new Constantine movie — but is it the Keanu Reeves sequel fans have waited 21 years for?

Things are clearly shifting at DC Studios. Fresh off the back of Clayface trying its luck at the box office, the studio seems to be fishing around for more horror-tinged and supernatural projects. Right now, amid all the chaos, Man of Tomorrow is still the only actual film with a date in James Gunn's newly connected DCU. Meanwhile, the so-called Elseworlds films – so, think The Batman – Part II and Dynamic Duo – are sat on the schedule, but anything properly DCU-branded has been pretty muted recently. That might not last long, though, now that Skydance has taken over Warner Bros.

Constantine Back in the Mix

The Deadline lot report that Francis Galluppi has signed on to write a script for a brand-new John Constantine film. Galluppi’s already in the Warner Bros. orbit, as he’s set to direct Evil Dead Wrath – yes, another Evil Dead entry, number seven if you’re counting – due for release on 7 April 2028. Before all that, he wrote and directed a bleak little thriller called The Last Shop in Yuma County, his first time in the director’s chair for a feature.

Evil Dead Wrath, the seventh entry in the Evil Dead series, is set to hit cinemas on 7 April 2028.

Here’s the twist: no one seems quite sure whether this new Constantine project sits inside Gunn’s DCU masterplan, or if it’s actually meant to be the long-teased sequel to the 2005 Keanu Reeves film. That Constantine 2 sequel was supposedly still hanging around as of the most recent Deadline update on Warner’s slate, with Keanu apparently up for donning the trench coat once again. Now, with Galluppi’s version entering the race, it’s anyone’s guess whether there’ll be duelling Constantines, or if one will quietly vanish behind the scenes.

Legacy and Other Appearances

John Constantine’s history is proper convoluted, if you’re not up to speed. He was cooked up by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, and John Totleben for Swamp Thing #37 back in the summer of 1985 – so yes, Constantine began as a side character in a horror comic. Picture a perpetually hungover, cynical, chain-smoking exorcist for hire. He was so popular, DC gave him his own title, Hellblazer, under the Vertigo line for grown-ups. That comic was their longest-running at 300 issues, running from 1993 until 2013.

• Keanu Reeves played Constantine first, in the 2005 film that still crops up on late-night telly.
• Matt Ryan took the role for NBC’s short-lived series (2014–2015), but then reprised the part across Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow in the Arrowverse a few years back.
• Warner Bros. spent an eternity not making a Justice League Dark film (2012–2020), with John Constantine supposed to feature.
• More recently, a gender-flipped version – Joanna Constantine, played by Jenna Coleman – has popped up in Netflix’s The Sandman.
• An HBO Max show from J.J. Abrams was axed when the Gunn-led DCU overhaul rolled in.

The point is, Constantine’s always been floating about DC’s plans – he just can’t quite break onto the big screen reliably. What might be new this time is the supernatural angle: with magical types like Madame Xanadu and Giovanni Zatara already teased in the Hall of Justice mural seen in Superman, there’s clearly room for DCU to loosen up and go full occult. Given Constantine’s roots in Swamp Thing, that could open the door for a whole run of stranger, nastier stories on screen.

This fresh Constantine film is still at the scribbling and planning stage – no director attached just yet. But if Evil Dead Wrath turns out to be a hit at the cinema, don’t be shocked if Galluppi gets handed the directorial reins as well.