November 9, 2015

On last week’s episode of The CW’s ARROW, HELLBLAZER fans got a surprise. An extra hour with the now short-lived and title character of NBC’s CONSTANTINE with Matt Ryan reprising his role as John Constantine. And it was wonderful. I mean, when Ryan first looks up and asks for a cigarette in his first appearance on the episode while the background score subtly hints at Bear McCreary’s CONSTANTINE theme, I got the same kind of thrill I get when I’m reading a comic book and one of my favorite characters suddenly makes a surprise appearance.

Granted, it wasn’t a big surprise to anyone following the show or that caught the advance TV spots advertising the team-up, but considering where we last left the small screen version of John Constantine, it seemed like a minor miracle.

CONSTANTINE debuted last Halloween on NBC and despite a strong cult following and tremendous online support was canceled after 13 episodes. Like with any series, there were minor speed bumps in the beginning. Neil Marshall helmed the first 2 episodes and aimed to set the tone for the series by delivering tradition horror and supernatural scares. His 2nd episode “The Rage Of Caliban” (which took place on Halloween, when it was originally scheduled to air) ended up being pushed to episode 6 of the season. TRUE BLOOD’s Lucy Griffiths who played Liv Aberdine & was intended to be John’s partner was let go after the pilot episode, and replaced by the much more suitable Angelica Calaya as Zed. There was also the issue that John was not allowed to smoke as smoking is prohibited on any national NBC show. (But gory disembowelments and gruesome murders as seen on HANNIBAL are apparently OK?)

All of this aside, after a few episodes, CONSTANTINE truly found its rhythm and voice, led by Matt Ryan’s spot on performance that properly captured the spirit and snarkiness of his comic book counterpart, and a solid supporting cast including Charles Halford as Chas. Hell, with the threat of cancelation constantly looming, John started popping into frame with a cigarette and by the last of the 13 episodes, series directors just decided to shoot pivotal scenes with John smoking during them. We got to meet James Corrigan who would later become The Spectre. And we’ve spotted trinkets and easter eggs to other characters such as Dr. Fate’s helmet in Constantine’s mill house. Had it gone forward with another season, we probably would’ve seen Swamp Thing and other notable characters in DC’s “dark universe” making appearances, which would’ve made it the weirdest comic book adapted show ever.

But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. And I’m still not sure why NBC didn’t put more support towards the show as it neared the end. Rumors of continuing the show with another network seemed promising, but apparently no one stepped up and made it a reality. Which is a shame. Because if the ARROW appearance proved anything, it’s that people want more John Constantine.

While ARROW has always done well in the ratings department for The CW, this last week’s episode “Haunted” which featured our friend John was boosted by 10% from the previous week’s ratings and has been its highest rated episode of all of season 4. The producers of the show reiterated that Constantine’s appearance was intended to be a one-off episode, but with such a big ratings spike, surely they’ll re-consider bringing him back again, right? Well, if not. Then my question is this – can we please give John Constantine another chance?

The show ended back in February of 2015 and still to this date, it has not been released on Blu-Ray or DVD. It hasn’t appeared on Netflix Instant or any other streaming services. (Although it was on Hulu while it aired, it’s no longer available there.) I am convinced there is a wider audience for this show and if it were only available on something like Netflix, it’d only grow bigger. Again, the ARROW appearance proved that. And while some people may have balked at the idea of shipping the show over to The CW, let me remind you that they’re the home of SUPERNATURAL, still going strong and now in its 11th season. CONSTANTINE would make the perfect double bill with a show like SUPERNATURAL, so why not?

Maybe it’s a legal issue, who knows? But I truly hope that the entire first season of CONSTANTINE pops up soon in an easily accessible way so that people that liked the glimpse of him in ARROW can truly see his great potential. Like Sara Lance in this latest episode of ARROW, John Constantine deserves a resurrection.

* All pics from The CW and/or NBC