DC favourite John Constantine is getting a second shot at the small screen.
After the 2014 NBC series failed to find a big enough audience (and Constantine subsequently become a big player in the Arrowverse), there’s hope for Constantine fans who were desperate for a new standalone show.
There’s a brand-new incarnation of Constantine coming to HBO Max with British novelist and screenwriter Guy Bolton attached as the writer for the pilot episode.
This new show will apparently follow a different version of the character and will draw more from the horror elements of the Constantine and Hellblazer comic books, rather than the religious themes.
For those unfamiliar with the character, John Constantine originated in the Swamp Thing comic book before getting a life of his own. Created by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette and John Totleben, John Constantine is a working-class warlock, detective and con man who operates out of London. He’s a skilled tactician, expert magic wielder and is regularly at odds with the huge range of supernatural foes found throughout the DC Universe.
This is far from Constantine’s first live-action appearance, though. The character is already a firm presence in the Arrowverse show Legends of Tomorrow. Here, he is played by Matt Ryan, reprising his role as John Constantine from the aforementioned short-lived NBC show Constantine which was cancelled after just one season.
Ryan also voices the character in a variety of DC’s animated movies, including Justice League Dark, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War and Constantine: City of Demons. The new Constantine show is expected to tie into the upcoming Justice League Dark series, which Abrams executive produces through Bad Robot (according to Variety).
Matt Ryan is not expected to reprise his role in the upcoming series, though. Since the reboot will follow a more diverse, younger version of the classic character, the search is currently on to find a brand-new actor to play the comic book character.
We do not yet have a release date for the upcoming HBO Max show.
