Constantine (TV series)

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Constantine
Constantine TV show logo.jpg
Genre <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Based on Characters published
by DC Comics
Developed by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Composer(s) Bear McCreary
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Producer(s) James Spies
Production location(s) Atlanta, Georgia
Cinematography Romeo Tirone
Running time 42–43 minutes
Production company(s) <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network NBC
Original release October 24, 2014 (2014-10-24) –
February 13, 2015 (2015-02-13)
Chronology
Related shows Arrow
External links
Website

Constantine is an American television series developed by Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer for NBC, featuring the DC Comics character John Constantine.[1] Matt Ryan stars as Constantine, a British exorcist and occult detective who actively hunts supernatural entities. The series aired from October 24, 2014 to February 13, 2015, over 13 episodes. On May 8, 2015, NBC canceled Constantine after only one season due to poor ratings. Ryan reprised the role in a guest appearance in the fourth season of The CW series Arrow.

Premise

John Constantine, a demon hunter and dabbling master of the occult, must struggle with his past sins while protecting the innocent from the converging supernatural threats that constantly break through to our world due to the "Rising Darkness". Balancing his actions upon the line of good and evil, Constantine uses his skills and a supernatural scry map to journey across the nation to send these terrors back to their own world, all for the hope of redeeming his soul from eternal torment.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring and guest

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date Prod.
code		 U.S. viewers
(millions)
1 "Non Est Asylum" Neil Marshall Story by: Daniel Cerone & David S. Goyer
Teleplay by: Daniel Cerone		 October 24, 2014 (2014-10-24) 296849 4.28[4]
John Constantine, an unscrupulous exorcist and master of the dark arts, recovers in a mental institution following a failed exorcism; a result of the failure is that his soul is damned. He receives a supernatural warning about Liv Aberdine, who is threatened by mysterious forces. Constantine gives her a pendant that belonged to her father, which allows her to see trapped souls. He introduces her to scrying, a mystic art that predicts where demonic activity will occur. Aberdine is being stalked by the demon Furcifer. Constantine coerces help from Ritchie Simpson, a drug-addicted metaphysics professor who assisted in the failed exorcism. Together they trap Furcifer and send him back to Hell. It is all too much for Liv; she leaves John the pendant and a map used in the art before she disappears. He tells an associate that he scared her away intentionally because the life of an exorcist is difficult and unpleasant. Elsewhere, a female artist has visions of Constantine.
2 "The Darkness Beneath" Steve Shill Rockne S. O'Bannon October 31, 2014 (2014-10-31) 3J5553 3.06[5]
The scrying map predicts trouble in a mining town in Western Pennsylvania, where several miners have been mysteriously killed. Constantine deduces that Coblynau, normally benign spirits of deceased miners, are being forced to kill. John accidentally meets Zed Martin, an artist with a mysterious past who recognizes him as the subject of her psychic visions. Constantine uses her abilities in his investigation. They discover that a Romani woman summoned the spirits to punish the mine bosses and kill her husband. After the woman is killed by the spirits, Zed agrees to join John in his fight against evil.
3 "The Devil's Vinyl" Romeo Tirone Mark Verheiden & David S. Goyer November 7, 2014 (2014-11-07) 3J5554 3.14[6]
John and Zed travel to Chicago in search of an allegedly cursed Gramophone record known as "the Acetate". Legend indicates that the Acetate contains a recording of the Devil's voice, captured when the Devil claimed the soul of Memphis bluesman Willy Cole. The record supposedly freezes anyone who touches it and possesses the weak-minded; anyone who listens to the recording dies. John and Zed learn that Papa Midnite, a voodoo priest, wants to obtain the record; he believes he can use it to bargain for his own soul. Midnite's hired men are possessed by the Acetate and attempt mass murder by broadcasting the recording. Constantine defeats them at a radio station before it airs, and sends the Acetate to Hell. Papa Midnite swears vengeance.
4 "A Feast of Friends" John F. Showalter Cameron Welsh November 14, 2014 (2014-11-14) 3J5555 3.47[7]
Gary Lester (Jonjo O'Neill), an old friend of John, finds a boy in the Sudan whose skin is scarified with mystical symbols to contain a demon. Gary exorcises the demon and seals it in a mystical container. Intending to bring it to Constantine, he is stopped by the United States Customs Service and the demon is accidentally released. John identifies it as a hunger demon named Mnemoth. Zed sketches symbols from her latest vision that John can use against Mnemoth. John and Nommo use psychotropics to learn that Mnemoth can be stopped only by trapping it in a human body, which will die along with the demon. John secretly intends to use Gary to contain the demon. Gary discovers the ruse and agrees; he sees it as an opportunity to atone for past sins and give his life meaning. After the ritual succeeds, John takes Gary to the millhouse and holds Gary's hand while Mnemoth tortures him to death. Manny stands ready to guide Gary's soul to the afterlife.
5 "Danse Vaudou" John Badham Christine Boylan November 21, 2014 (2014-11-21) 3J5556 3.54[8]
The scrying map predicts activity in New Orleans. John, Chas and Zed meet suspended New Orleans Police Detective Jim Corrigan, who recently tried to shoot a masked woman after she murdered a young girl. The woman vanished like a ghost afterward. Corrigan does not understand what happened and is skeptical about the supernatural. Zed has a vision of him as a child. She later has a vision of a deadly car crash, and Corrigan appears to her covered in fatal wounds.
6 "The Rage of Caliban" Neil Marshall Daniel Cerone November 28, 2014 (2014-11-28) 3J5552 3.34[9]
John and Chas investigate of a series of murders in which both parents are violently killed but their only child escapes unharmed. John determines that he is chasing the spirit of a boy who murdered his abusive parents, which has been repeating its pattern of violence through other children for decades. John tracks the spirit to its current host but struggles to convince the boy's parents that he can help their son. Manny arrives to discuss John's own childhood abuse, and suggests that John can help the possessed boy and the spirit only if he truly understands their suffering. Constantine learns that his efforts have been unsuccessful because the spirit is that of a person still alive. With help from the possessed boy's mother, John succeeds in exorcising the spirit. He forces it back into its original body, an adult catatonic mental patient.
7 "Blessed Are the Damned" Nick Gomez Sneha Koorse December 5, 2014 (2014-12-05) 3J5557 3.17[10]
John enlists Zed to help him investigate a rural preacher, who died of a snake bite but returned from the dead with the power to heal. The investigation leads to an angel named Imogen, who was attempting to ferry the preacher's soul to the afterlife when he stole one of her feathers, causing her to fall to Earth. After returning the feather to Imogen, it's realized that Imogen is a fallen angel and had puller her own feather out (as a mortal has never been able to pull a feather from an angel). She escapes from John and Manny.
8 "The Saint of Last Resorts" TJ Scott Carly Wray December 12, 2014 (2014-12-12) 3J5558 3.30[11]
Zed draws a picture of an invunche, and John suspects that she received the image by touching Imogen's dark heart. Anne Marie (Claire van der Boom)—a nun who was formerly John's lover and a witness to the failed Newcastle exorcism—begs John to come to Mexico to stop an entity that kidnaps babies. John uses magic to flush out the culprit, revealing another nun to be Lamashtu; she takes her true form and attempts to kill John. Zed meets Eddie, an old friend who captures and tranquilizes her. John and Anne Marie pursue Lamashtu into the sewer beneath the convent. They discover the missing babies are alive and rescue them. Lamashtu reveals that an organization known as La Brujería are responsible for the increase of supernatural events throughout the world. John uses an amulet of Pazuzu to banish Lamashtu, but he and Annie Marie are confronted by an invunche. Anne Marie sacrifices John, shooting him and leaving him behind so that she and the infant can escape.
9 "The Saint of Last Resorts, Part 2" Romeo Tirone Mark Verheiden January 16, 2015 (2015-01-16) 3J5559 3.06[12]
Fatally wounded, John invites Pazuzu to possess him. This drives away the invunche, and heals John's wound. Manny appears before him, enraged and disappointed by John's actions. Zed has a vision of Anne Marie, overpowers her captor and escapes. John tells Chas to exorcise Pazuzu before the demon takes over permanently, but Pazuzu seizes control and escapes. John wakes up surrounded by corpses and is arrested. Chas and Zed request Anne Marie's help to find John. John is threatened by inmates while in jail and Pazuzu murders them. Chas causes a diversion while Zed sneaks into the prison, and Anne Marie enters pretending to minister to the prisoners' needs. They locate John and start an exorcism, but the demon is too deeply rooted. The demon Trickster arrives to kill John, but realizes he is in final stage of demonic possession. Trickster warns them that La Brujería cannot be stopped. Anne Marie kills him. She, Chas and Zed return to the millhouse where they have a better chance for success. After a hard fight, Anne Marie finds the faith to finish the exorcism, saving John's life and his soul. After Anne Marie leaves, Zed tells John about her shady past.
10 "Quid Pro Quo" Mary Harron Brian Anthony January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23) 3J5560 3.47[13]
John, Zed and Chas race to save Chas' daughter after her soul is taken by Felix Faust.
11 "A Whole World Out There" Tom Wright Davita Scarlett & Sneha Koorse January 30, 2015 (2015-01-30) 3J5561 3.29[14]
A college student (Skyler Day) and her three friends recklessly invoke the magic of a mad occultist named Jacob Shaw. When Shaw sucks their consciousnesses into an alternate realm ruled by him to keep as pets, only John Constantine and their professor, Ritchie Simpson, can save them.
12 "Angels and Ministers of Grace" Sam Hill Christine Boylan February 6, 2015 (2015-02-06) 3J5562 2.96[15]
Zed goes into a hospital with John in search of an antediluvian crystal made of pure evil and discovers she has a brain tumor. Meanwhile, John discovers people at the hospital are being murdered by someone using the crystal. Left with no other options, he recruits a reluctant Manny to help him put a stop to it and save Zed.
13 "Waiting for the Man" David Boyd Cameron Welsh February 13, 2015 (2015-02-13) 3J5563 3.30[16]
A satanist who is luring young girls to their deaths catches the attention of Jim Corrigan, who then alerts John and Zed. Together the three bring the man to justice, and Jim shoots him as he runs away. Papa Midnite attempts, and fails, to claim a bounty on John's head placed by Manny. Zed shares with Jim her recurring visions of his demise.

On October 30, 2015, Daniel Cerone released a script for the fourteenth episode that would have aired had the series continued, entitled "Final Girl".[17]

Production

The series was developed by Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer, with the pilot episode directed by Neil Marshall.[18] The show remains more faithful to the source material than the 2005 film, although on-screen depiction of Constantine's chain-smoking habit was said to be curtailed because of broadcast television restrictions[19][20] (the network eventually becomes more lenient and John is shown smoking on screen in later episodes). Additionally, the character's bisexuality was not referenced on screen,[21] with Cerone saying, "In those comic books, John Constantine aged in real time. Within this tome of three decades [of comics] there might have been one or two issues where he's seen getting out of bed with a man. So [maybe] 20 years from now? But there are no immediate plans." This was met with criticism from the LGBTQ community.[22]

Griffiths was cast as the original female lead Liv Aberdine, the daughter of a late friend of John's called Jasper Winters, who comes to discover that she has the ability of seeing the supernatural world among us. She teams up with Constantine to fight the demons who have targeted her and learn more about her late father.[2] Griffiths was dropped after Goyer and Cerone decided to take the series in a different creative direction.[23] The comic character Zed was chosen as a replacement for the female lead.[23] Angélica Celaya was later announced to fill the role. Some of Griffiths' final scenes from the pilot were reshot, explaining why she does not join Constantine in his adventures as originally intended.[3] Both Goyer and Cerone have talked about a possible return for Liv.[24]

In November 2014, NBC announced that they would not be ordering more episodes past the initial order of 13 for the first season, though a second season renewal was not ruled out.[25] When questioned about the chances of the series return in January 2015, NBC president Jennifer Salke said, "We wish the show would’ve done better live. It has a big [delayed] viewership and a younger audience. We love the show and it’s safe to say we're still talking about it." NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt added, "We got on the comic books bandwagon. Maybe, there are too many of them."[26] In February 2015, Cerone reconfirmed that the series had not been cancelled and that the producers would pitch their ideas for an additional season to NBC in May 2015.[27] In mid-April 2015, Cerone stated it was "a long shot" that the series would be renewed, adding "While we marginally improved a tough time slot for NBC, we're a very expensive show to produce. A lot of NBC's decision making will not [sic] doubt hinge on their new pilots and how they feel those new shows would fare as a companion piece to Grimm, versus a second season of Constantine."[28] On April 23, Cerone tweeted that the producers would pitch their ideas for a second season on April 27, which was earlier than he had previously announced in February, with NBC making their decision in early May.[29] Following the meeting, Cerone tweeted that the "NBC exec said [to] tell the fans it went well" and that "If this show comes back for more, I can honestly say it was the fans."[30][31]

On May 8, 2015, NBC declined to renew the series for a second season, prompting Warner Bros. Television to shop the series around in an attempt to get it picked up by another network.[32] A month later, Cerone revealed that the cast and crew were released from their contracts after Warner Bros. Television had "tried to find a new home for the show... but those efforts didn’t pan out", and stated "that the show is over." On the many fans who voiced their support for the series in attempting to get it renewed, Cerone said, "we’re leaving behind wild and passionate fans who believe in and were moved by what we tried to do. To leave such a significant, dedicated and active fan base on the table — that’s the real sadness. You all deserve many years of the series we set out to make, and we’re disappointed that we couldn’t deliver that to you."[33]

Broadcast

Constantine aired simultaneously on Global in Canada.[34] In the United Kingdom, the series was acquired by Amazon Video.[35]

The series is available to stream in Australia on Stan.[36] It is also available in Canada on Shomi starting September 24, 2015. [37]

Reception

Ratings

The premiere episode "Non Est Asylum" received an additional 2.90 million viewers from DVR viewing, to create a total of 7.14 million viewers for the episode.[38]

No. Title Air date Rating/share
(18–49)		 Viewers
(millions)		 DVR
(18–49)		 Total
(18–49)
1 "Non Est Asylum" October 24, 2014 1.4/5 4.28[4] 0.7 2.1[38]
2 "The Darkness Beneath" October 31, 2014 0.9/3 3.06[5] 0.8 1.7[39]
3 "The Devil's Vinyl" November 7, 2014 1.0/3 3.14[6] 0.7 1.7[40]
4 "A Feast of Friends" November 14, 2014 0.8/3 3.47[7] 0.9 1.7[41]
5 "Danse Vaudou" November 21, 2014 1.1/4 3.54[8] 0.8 1.9[42]
6 "The Rage of Caliban" November 28, 2014 0.9/3 3.34[9] 0.7 1.6[43]
7 "Blessed are the Damned" December 5, 2014 0.8/3 3.17[10] 0.8 1.6[44]
8 "The Saint of Last Resorts" December 12, 2014 1.0/3 3.30[11] 0.7 1.7[45]
9 "The Saint of Last Resorts, Part 2" January 16, 2015 0.8/3 3.06[12] 0.6 1.4[46]
10 "Quid Pro Quo" January 23, 2015 0.9/3 3.47[13] 0.6 1.5[47]
11 "A Whole World Out There" January 30, 2015 0.8/3 3.29[14] 0.6 1.4[48]
12 "Angels and Ministers of Grace" February 6, 2015 0.8/3 2.96[15] 0.6 1.4[49]
13 "Waiting for the Man" February 13, 2015 0.8/3 3.30[16] 0.6 1.4[50]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 72% critic approval rating with an average rating of 6.2/10 based on 46 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Constantine's creepy atmosphere, high-stakes action, and splendid special effects combine with a welcome touch of humor to overcome narrative flaws and present a version of the title character that's close to his comics counterpart."[51] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 53 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[52]

Web series

DC Entertainment has released a clay stop motion animation web series called John Con Noir. The web series is developed by Cool Town Creations to support the petition for the television series to be renewed for a second season.[53][54] The first chapter was released on January 16, 2015 on the DC Comics official website and YouTube account, in addition to the mid-season premiere on NBC.[53]

Ryan reprises the role of John Constantine as the character tries to find his own program's creators and showrunners, Goyer and Cerone, after they go missing. If Constantine does not succeed, then the NBC network will have no other choice but to cancel the program.

Crossover with Arrow

In May 2015, Stephen Amell, who portrays Oliver Queen / Green Arrow on The CW's Arrow, revealed he had discussions with DC Entertainment to portray the character on the show, saying, "The reason that I was going to guest star on Constantine, at least the idea that we were throwing around was [Constantine's] an expert when it comes to the Lazarus Pit, which is now something that is a part of and will continue to be a part of Arrow." Amell stated that, even though Constantine was not renewed for a second season, a crossover "was and is still on the table".[55] Additionally, Arrow showrunner Marc Guggenheim revealed a desire to integrate Constantine into the universe that had been created with Arrow, saying, "A lot of the pieces are in place, except for that one final piece, which is what's the fate of Constantine? That's the tricky thing. But it comes up in the writers' room constantly — we have a number of ideas, one idea that’s particularly exciting to me. We're in a little bit of a wait-and-see mode."[56] In July 2015, additional Arrow showrunner Wendy Mericle added, "We really want to [include Constantine]. It's something we've been talking to DC about and it's just a question of some political things, but also the actor's schedule. We're trying to work it out, but we don't know 100 percent if it's going to happen. But we're really optimistic and we would love to have him," presumably talking about Matt Ryan.[57]

In August 2015, it was confirmed that Ryan would appear on Arrow in the fourth season episode "Haunted", per a "one-time-only-deal" that will involve his character being "brought in to deal with the fallout of the resurrection of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) via Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pit" because "Unlike Thea [Queen], who wasn't fully dead [before being resurrected by the Lazarus Pit], the consequences of using the pit on someone as dead as Sara creates some unforeseen difficulties...and John Constantine is uniquely suited to help our team deal with those."[58][59][60] Guggenheim said, "This is something the fans were clamoring for," praising DC for being so "magnanimous and generous in giving us this one-time dispensation." Due to Arrow and Constantine sharing the same studio, the producers of Arrow were also able to acquire Ryan's original outfits, with Guggenheim saying, "The trench coat, the tie, the shirt...the whole wardrobe is being taken out of storage and shipped up to Vancouver [where Arrow shoots]." John Badham, who directed the fifth episode of Constantine, "Danse Vaudou", will direct the Arrow episode.[59] In addition, Mericle revealed that the version of Constantine that Matt Ryan will portray on Arrow is the same version of the character that was portrayed on Constantine.[61] On filming the episode, Guggenheim stated it felt like the production team was "doing a Constantine/Arrow crossover, and it’s so exciting… We’re just really glad we got the chance to extend Matt Ryan’s run as Constantine by at least one more hour of television. I think you’ll see he fits very neatly into our universe. It never feels forced, it feels right."[62]

References

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External links

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