One role Keanu Reeves always wanted

Even a movie superstar like Keanu Reeves has a role he has always wanted to play – a role someone else has been parked in for 23 years.

John Wick is returning this month.

Keanu Reeves has played some of the most iconic characters in cinema history.

From Neo in The Matrix and Ted in Bill and Ted to Jack in Speed and, of course, John Wick, he has made in an inedible mark on the big screen.

But Reeves is an artist, and artists are never quite satiated when it comes to the pursuit. There’s always something which eludes them.

For Reeves, it’s one character he has always wanted to play, a role that has been occupied by someone else for the past 23 years.

In a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, one poster asked Reeves if he had a role he had ever regretted turning down.

He answered, “No… but I did always want to play Wolverine”.

Keanu Reeves has always wanted to play Wolverine. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Lionsgate)

Hugh Jackman has been playing Wolverine for 23 years.

Wolverine, of course, is the adamantium-clawed superhero of the X-Men, a role Hugh Jackman has played nine times since he was hired in 2000.

While it looked as if Jackman’s tenure as the famed comic book character was up after Wolverine’s onscreen death in 2017 movie Logan – potentially opening the door for someone else – the Australian actor confirmed he will reprise the role in the upcoming Deadpool 3.

For the moment at least, Reeves still won’t be clawing his way onto that call sheet.

But all is not lost for his comic book aspirations. In the same AMA session, Reeves revealed he has spoken to James Gunn about a Constantine sequel.

Reeves played the DC comics character, an occultist mired in a battle between heaven and hell, in the 2005 Francis Lawrence movie Constantine. Reeves has frequently cited Constantine as the character he would like to play again.

Keanu Reeves has stirred fresh hopes for a Constantine sequel.

There have been mooted attempts over the years to mount a sequel – and Reeves has said he’s asked the studio time and again – but nothing ever came to be. Most recently, a script for a sequel is said to be in the works at Warner Bros.

Of course, if anyone was going to greenlight a Constantine follow-up, it’ll be Gunn, who is one of the newly installed co-chiefs in charge of Warners’ DC movies and TV shows slate.

So, Reeves’ revelation that he has spoken to Gunn, and that he hoped to see a Constantine 2 soon, is a promising step.

Reeves’ AMA session is part of the promotional trail for John Wick 4. He responded to one question that John Wick 4 has been the most challenging to film in the franchise because “it has the most action, gloriously”.

He also named it among the movies he’s worked on which changed his life, the others being River’s Edge, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Matrix, The Devil’s Advocate, A Scanner Darkly, My Own Private Idaho and Point Break.

John Wick 4 is in cinemas on March 23.