UPDATE: The writer who initially reported Constantine’s cancellation has now retracted her former statement and says that NBC has not cancelled the show and is still waiting to make their final call. There might still be some hope for everyone’s favorite trench coat-wearing supernatural detective.
The original story follows below.
This TV season has been an excellent one for comic book shows, especially for the folks over at DC Comics. Arrow was renewed for a Season 4 while freshman series Gotham and The Flash both earned second seasons. However, not everyone is sharing in this good fortune. For the mystical con-man John Constantine, it’s looking likely that we won’t be seeing him again next fall on the small screen.
The news was broken by Buzzfeed writer Kate Aurthur, who revealed the show was cancelled via a post and later said she had confirmed the cancellation on Twitter.
It seems NBC has decided to cancel Constantine, although the network has yet to officially comment on this. This report comes somewhat earlier than expected, since showrunner Daniel Cerone mentioned earlier his month that he was meeting with the network to discuss plans for Season 2, and a decision would be given on the show's fate at the end of the month. Whether that meeting has occurred or not, things are not looking good regarding Constantine's fate. Since rumors of the series moving to Syfy proved to be false, it looks like this is the end of the supernatural series barring some last-minute save from another network or an online platform like Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Spoilers for Constantine Season 1 are ahead!
Constantine was an adaptation of DC’s Hellblazer comic book series, and followed John Constantine as he used his occult skills to fight demons and other supernatural threats in our world. Although reception towards Constantine improved over its 13-episode run, the series dealt with several issues before and during its airing, from low-ratings in its Friday night time-slot (which shifted from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m. halfway through) to replacing female leads following the filming of the pilot. To top it off, rather than order additional Season 1 episodes, NBC opted to shut down production after the original 13 episodes finished filming, although they didn't rule out the possibility of another season being ordered.
The Season 1 finale “Waiting for the Man” featured the return of recurring characters Papa Midnite and Jim Corrigan (a.k.a. the future Spectre), but the big revelation was that the angel Manny was the leader of the Brujeria, the beings who were ushering in the Rising Darkness, leaving fans with one hell of a cliffhanger. Should this cancellation report be verified, it looks like we’ll never follow up on Manny’s grand scheme or how John planned to defeat these otherworldly enemies, not to mention the truth behind Zed’s mysterious past.
Although John Constantine’s future on TV may be dead, this may not be the last time we see another live-action iteration of the character. He is reportedly one of the main players in Guillermo del Toro’s Justice League Dark movie, and the director even seemed open to the idea of series star Matt Ryan playing him on the big screen. Let’s also hope that Constantine’s cancellation doesn’t prevent DC from digging into their library of supernatural characters for other potential TV projects. From Doctor Fate to Deadman to Zatanna, DC has plenty of mystical heroes that deserve a chance to shine, so they shouldn't let one failure scare them into trying out another similar idea.
