This year’s Comic-Con was a cavalcade of superheroes large and small, but only one of them was capable of bringing Hell to the California coast. Okay, so maybe it’s a stretch to call John Constantine a superhero, but he’s saving people and the world; and even though he’s one of fiction’s darker pillars of virtue, the above trailer is much less mopey than Warner Bros.’ other comic fare like Man of Steel and the Dark Knight trilogy. He’s a charmer, this one.
I can imagine Constantine's bass-and-percussion-filled extended trailer got the crowd's collective heart pumping, as it offers a rounded look at what the spiritually unhinged series will bring to NBC this fall. (Or at least what the pilot will bring, since we won’t be seeing Lucy Griffiths after that.) We’ve got big stunts, goosebumps-inducing demons, the complete stoppage of time, and John Constantine’s acerbic brand of wordplay. I’m quite excited about where Matt Ryan will take this character, regardless of how many changes come in his switch from comic to TV.
Created for Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing and later spun off into the Hellblazer series, Constantine is making his explosive small screen debut thanks to creator Daniel Cerone (Dexter). In the trailer, he dons his trademark trenchcoat while dealing out trademark ass whippings to demons and other spooky entities, with Harold Perrineau as Manny, his quasi-guardian angel. Executive producer and Warner go-to writer David Goyer told Comic-Con audiences that they have access to “the occult corner of the DC Universe,” and comic fans should be thrilled by a certain item seen in the pilot, as well as the creative team’s intentions to bring John Constantine’s entire history to the show.
This means you can’t cancel it, NBC. We’re serious. And feel free to add The Sandman’s Dream in there for a cameo. Also, can someone please get this image out of my head?
The pilot screened at Comic-Con was slightly different than the one previously sent out to critics (and the one that leaked its way online in seemingly no time). The final showdown is different and they added a scene to explain why Griffiths’ character Liv won’t be appearing again. Audiences can expect to see Angélica Celaya’s Zed stepping into the semi-sidekick shoes for Episode 2 and beyond.
Constantine will hopefully conjure up a huge audience when it premieres on NBC on Friday, October 24 at 10 p.m. ET.
