While Gotham, Arrow and The Flash are sitting pretty for next season thanks to early renewals, poor Constantine has not fared so well during the 2014-2015 TV season. Rumors have recently swirled that NBC Universal might move Constantine to Syfy for Season 2. Today, new reports indicate that rumor is false. However, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
On Monday, TV Line did some digging and reported that there is “zero truth” to the story that Syfy might pick up Constantine should NBC choose to cancel the series. The new report is probably a bit jarring for fans considering the network swap whispers that popped up a week ago, but there are actually two very clear counterpoints that fans need to keep in mind before they get too worried.
The first and most obvious is that Constantine is not 100% on the chopping block at the end of the season. While the show did not get a full season order and NBC announced production would be shut down well before network shows went on hiatus for the winter, ratings on Friday night have not been abysmal for the series. It has also proven to be a fine pairing with Grimm. The final episode count for Season 1 will end up being 13, and if NBC keeps Constantine as a limited series next year, it could air in the fall while Hannibal picks up in the spring. At least, provided NBC does decide to move forward with Season 2.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the rumor mill never obviously stated that Syfy would be the clear contender if Constantine does move networks. Instead, the rumor mill indicated that NBC Universal was looking at its other channels to possibly provide an outlet for Constantine. In fact, NBC Universal also owns Chiller, a network devoted to horror content, so its not like there wouldn’t be other options if Constantine were to switch networks.
Obviously, if Syfy is no longer in the cards, there is good reason to believe that a network switcheroo is not likely to happen. Chiller, for instance, is a low-rated network, and Constantine’s budget is presumably too big to suit the network’s needs. Additionally, while ratings haven’t been quite as bad as Dracula’s numbers were last year, the Season 1 finale last week only drew a .8 rating and a little over 3 million total viewers. That doesn’t exactly put the show in the safe zone. Perhaps NBC will give Constantine one more shot at redemption next year, but I guess one thing’s for certain: it won’t be over at Syfy.
