Keanu Reeves will return to Constantine role, likely killing another woke reboot

A remake of the series "Constantine" that was set to be rebooted with a "diverse lead" has been canceled thanks to the return of Keanu Reeves.

Comic book character John Constantine originated in 1985 and was depicted as a white man from London, England, whose depiction was originally inspired by musician Sting.

The role has since been played by Reeves in a 2005 film, then by Matt Ryan in a 2014-2015 series lasting just one season.

However, as reported by Bounding into Comics, the character underwent a reimagining when it came into the possession of J.J. Abrams' company Bad Robot Productions. Abrams famously took over directing and producing the Star Wars franchise for Disney, which has drawn mixed reactions, to say the least.

Abrams' company was set to introduce an HBO Max remake of the 2014 series, Deadline reported in 2021, with U.K. writer Guy Bolton specifically heading in a DEI-friendly direction.

"The character is set to be cast as a diverse lead, a departure from the one played by Matt Ryan in the NBC series," Deadline noted, which was seemingly confirmed through another report by entertainment outlet the Illuminerdi at the time.

The outlet cited that the studio had "hopes of casting a BIPOC actor in their late 20’s."

The same outlet seemingly confirmed this reporting in 2022 when it claimed that sources at Warner Bros. were looking to cast Sope Dìrísù as John Constantine.

The same week, Knight Edge Media "exclusively confirmed" that the studio was looking for two Cambodian actors, which the outlet speculated included the character named Astra, who was also white in the comics.

However, the "race swap," as it is colloquially known, is reportedly dead thank to the return of Reeves. In September 2022, Warner Bros. announced that "The Matrix" actor would reprise his role as John Constantine in a new sequel.

Though the show had four scripts already written, Variety confirmed in October 2023 that the HBO project was dead.

The show was reportedly far enough into production that negotiations with the lead actor were already under way.

Reeves starred in "Constantine" alongside actor Shia Lebeouf. The film took in over $230 million worldwide with a $100 million production budget.

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