"Give Us an R" - Francis Lawrence Delivers a Divine Update on Keanu Reeves' 'Constantine 2'

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John Constantine looking ahead with a determined expression in 'Constantine'

The long-awaited Constantine sequel is officially in the works, reuniting Hollywood's favorite human Keanu Reeves with director Francis Lawrence nearly 20 years after the cult classic first hit theaters. Since its 2005 release, Constantine has steadily grown in popularity, earning a devoted fanbase that has been clamoring for another chapter in the story of the chain-smoking, demon-battling antihero. Now, with a script actively in development, Lawrence and Reeves are ready to banish the Hell out of demons again. Wait, does that make sense?

Lawrence was speaking with ComicBook.com recently to celebrate the film’s upcoming 4K remaster for its 20th anniversary, and the director admitted the journey to get a sequel off the ground was about as easy as banishing demons back to hell. (That's difficult, we're told.)

“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 hurdles. And so we are now actively working on a script. 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."

'Constantine 2' Will Be Very R-Rated

One major change fans can expect from the sequel? A full embrace of the R-rating. While the original Constantine received an R, it was crafted as a PG-13 film. This time, Lawrence and his team are ready to push boundaries and take full advantage of the creative freedom that an R-rating provides. Because, if you got an R-rating by mistake, why not just really go for it next time?

“I’d say more than any of my other movies, Constantine has been something that I felt like was really worthy of a sequel. There is a world that you can really explore and there’s a character that we certainly loved and really wanted to explore,” Lawrence explained.

“When the movie first came out, it didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, wow, the world is embracing our version of Constantine.’ There was a lot of criticism that we didn’t have the blonde English version of him, and that Keanu was wrong for it, and all those kinds of things. And I think that sort of opinion has really swung around and changed, but we always really loved the world and we always wanted to do a sequel."

“And so 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–k 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.’”

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on the future of Constantine. The original film is currently available to rent or buy on VOD.