Wiktor
Member
Series premiere: October 24, 2014
Constantine is an NBC supernatural drama based on the long running Hellblazer comic book series published by DC Comics. The titular character is an occult detective, streetwise magician, exorcist and most of all a brilliant con man, whos trying to make up for his past sins, some of which led to his soul being damned to hell. He travels through United States, constantly getting into trouble, giving supernatural terrors something to fear and sooner or later screwing most of the poor people who were foolish enough to put their faith in him.
Unlike the Keanu Reeves movie from 2005, the TV show's aim is to be faithful to source material as much as its possible on network TV. Which means John will be charming asshole that mostly outsmarts his enemies instead of killing them with a cross shotgun. This Constantine is also blonde, from UK and has a sense of humor. The show wont shy away from its comic books roots and we already know about plenty of stuff taken straight from the source material that will be in pilot and upcoming episodes, including appearances of other characters from occult side of DC.
The only thing they cant do is show him as a chain smoker because of some ridiculous broadcast standards, but they aim to go around this problem by having him put out the cigs, start fire with a lighter etc. It seems Hannibal Lecter cutting legs into delectable chunks of edible meat is ok, but Constantine inhaling a smoke is a big no-no
MAIN CAST
Matt Ryan as John Constantine
"The greatest con man in the world"
Charles Halford as Chas
Constantine's oldest living friend. He was able to claim that title by being for some reason really hard to kill, which allowed him to avoid the fate of most of Johns friends.
Anglica Celaya as Zed
An artist with an intuitive nature and heightened senses that allows her to be connected to supernatural side of the world. She will be the main female character for the series.
Harold Perrineau as Manny
Morally ambiguous guardian angel that might hold the key to saving Constantines soul, but he wont do it for free.
THE STAFF
Constantine was developed with help of David Goyer, but the main day to day showrunner will be the other co-creator - Daniel Cerone, whos was one of the main creative forces behind Dexter. But before you run away screaming with terror you need to know Cerone left that show after second season, so he was responsible for the it when it was one of the very best things on the air and he had nothing to do with the abomination Dexter ended up being in it's later seasons.
It's also worth mentioning that the music for Constantine series will be composed by based Bear McCreary and judging by the main theme were in for one hell of a ride.
SPOILER POLICY
We're going to be using standard procedure for TV shows here at GAF. Everything that has aired is free game. Everything else, including promos, rumors and press releases for upcoming episodes will considered spoilers and needs to be put into spoilers tag.
Also the pilot has leaked some time ago, but not everyone has seen it. If you want to discuss its contents before the premiere then also put it into spoilers please.
PROMOS
Our Souls to Keep
When Hell Breaks Loose
The Journey Begins October 24
Seeking Redemption
First Look at the Premiere
Trust
Official Trailer (very spoilerish)
THE CONNECTIONS
Constantine is a DC Comics IP, so what is the show relation to everything else with that companys logo?
Hellblazer John Constantine debuted in 1985 issue of The Saga of the Swamp Thing as a part of the general DC universe, but he rose to fame when he got his own series called Hellblazer, which effectively evacuated him into separate superheroes-free universe, where went on for 300 glorious issues, making it the longest running comic in Vertigo imprints history.
If you want some reading material to go with the show get Hellblazer. Comics dont much better than this and its run is filled with stories from some of the best and most important UK writers in medium's history, like Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Andy Diggle and Mike Carey. It also hugely influential. These days almost every single occult detective story in any medium takes at least some inspiration from Hellblazer. And yes, Supernatural Castiels clothes were designed as a homage to Constantine.
Modern Comics In 2012 DC rebooted their comics and merged Vertigo universe with the general one. As a result Hellblazer ended and we got new young John Constantine that lives in the same world as Batman and Superman. Theres no denying that the new Constantine series isnt as good as previous one, but if you like the occult stories its still pretty damn nice and its fun to see John being able to make a fool out of worlds greatest superheroes, Batman included. Most of all, Constantine was also made into a member of Justice League Dark (think JLA thats dealing with supernatural threats) and that comic is one of the best ones DC publishes these days.
Other TV shows - Constantine wont be connected to any other DC TV show, not to Arrow/Flash, not to Gotham and unfortunately also not to Lucifer on Fox. That said, NBC stated that they might do a spin-off if Constantine is successful, which would allow the network to have their own mini shared universe, the way CW does.
Movies Many viewers will know Constantine only from the 2005 movie with Keanu Reeves. A lot of hardcore fans hate it, because it simply wasnt true to the source material. I think its safe to say that years have made people look a lot more fondly on this flick. Its actually a pretty damn nice movie, just terrible Hellblazer adaptation. The show wont have much in common with it, but if you like the movie we wont bite you, as long as you wont be complaining that Matt Ryan looks nothing like Keanu.
Theres also a question of upcoming movies. The show wont be connected to all those superhero flicks Warner Bros is making right now. The only possible exception is Justice League Dark movie by Guillermo del Toro. If it gets made, then del Toro said he would be happy to use TV's Constantine in it if it fits into tone hes aiming for. We could however also end up with two versions of the same character, one for TV and one for movies, the same way Flash will be done.
