Constantine was met with so-so reactions from critics and okay box office when it premiered in theaters in the winter of 2005. Then, like magic, it began to build a cult following from fans who appreciated its darker, weirder take on superhero tropes. (John Constantine is a DC Comics character who was co-created by Alan Moore and artist Rick Veitch in the pages of The Saga of Swamp Thing.) Keanu Reeves has always said he enjoyed making the movie and assuming the role of the tortured magician, and would definitely be interested in playing the role again. (He was still saying he would be happy to play Constantine again as recently as last month.)

Reeves went even further than that in a recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. In this new interview he said he actively tried to get Constantine 2 made, and was rebuffed. “I would love to play John Constantine again,” Reeves said, to which Colbert joked that now that he’d said it on TV, someone will actually make the movie.

But Reeves claimed that wasn’t necessarily true. To which Colbert replied, “Are you saying right now that you are willing to play John Constantine on national television right now... that no one will make that movie?” “I’ve tried. I’ve tried, Stephen,” Keanu responded, sounding almost as sad as the Sad Keanu meme — which actually came up later in the interview. You can watch the entire segment below.

Warner Bros. surely had some reason they wouldn’t want to make another Constantine. Perhaps the fact that the character has spent much of the last decade on television — first on his own solo series and then as a cast member on Legends of Tomorrow, played by Matt Ryan — made them hesitant to produce a film with a totally different version of the character at the same time. But nowadays there’s a Flash TV show and a Flash movie; why couldn’t there be multiple Constantines? Make Sad Keanu happy again!

The Matrix Resurrections premieres on HBO Max and in movie theaters on December 22.

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