John Constantine lost his series on NBC earlier this year after only one season, but the trench coat wearing-occultist has managed to avoid being from banished from the small screen altogether. Matt Ryan reprised the character earlier this month in the Arrow episode “Haunted,” where viewers saw him assist Team Arrow in restoring Sara Lance’s soul in the present and meet Oliver Queen in the past. Now that he’s been firmly established in this DC TV universe, there’s a rumor that Constantine may be headed to Legends of Tomorrow in its second season.
The folks over at Bleeding Cool have heard that the plan for the team-up series is to switch its “casts and missions” each season. As a result, Ryan would play Constantine as a series regular in Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 when it airs in 2017. Keep in mind this is unconfirmed, but if true, this would mean that Constantine would be working with a different team to deal with an unknown threat of global implications. Legends of Tomorrow Season 1 will see Rip Hunter recruiting The Atom, White Canary, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Firestorm (a.k.a. Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson), Hawkgirl and Hawkman to travel through time to stop
As it stands now Constantine’s future on any of the CW’s DC shows remains uncertain. The Arrow showrunners described his appearance as a “one time only deal,” but the positive reception his episode received seems to have reignited interest in seeing more of him. There’s even an online petition to resurrect Constantine on another network, and while the chances of that happening seem unlikely, Legends of Tomorrow would be the next best way to bring him back, and this time he would be part of an ensemble rather than being saddled with all the responsibilities of a lead. Constantine’s inclusion would certainly allow more supernatural exploration in this universe, as well as pave the way for other magical DC characters to be introduced, like Zatanna or Doctor Fate.
It’s also worth noting Ryan isn't the only actor who’s possibly being looked at for Legends of Tomorrow Season 2. The report also mentioned that The Vampire Diaries star Steven R. McQueen is in consideration to play another hero. Arrow fans will remember that McQueen was seemingly campaigning last year to play Dick Grayson, a.k.a. Nightwing, though nothing ever came of that. With the new mandate from Warner Bros that movies can’t restrict the TV shows from using certain characters, perhaps McQueen will finally get to play Blüdhaven’s protector, though considering how big the DC universe is, it’s also possible they would rather him play someone not from Batman’s world.
It will be a long time until we find out what’s in store for Legends of Tomorrow Season 2, but in the meantime, fans can look forward to Season 1 premiering Thursday, January 21 at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.
