CONSTANTINE is Officially Dead

Well the genre gods are certainly putting the boots in lately. First Tron 3 gets cancelled last week, and now today has brought the sadly inevitable news Constantine is officially done.

When the first season of NBC’s Matt Ryan-starrer was restricted to just 13 episodes, many people saw this as the writing on the wall for the series. Then came the ratings for the show, which whilst not horrendous we’re still below what the network was looking for. Next up was NBC notrenewing the show, although at that time there was hope that Constantine could find a home elsewhere. Sadly, that’s not been possible and the show has unfortunately been completely axed.

Taking to his Twitter account, executive producer Daniel Cerone release the below detailed update announcing the show’s official demise:

I promised I’d share news when I had it — sadly, that news is not good. The cast and writers of Constantine are being released from their contracts. The studio tried to find a new home for the show, for which we’re forever grateful, but those efforts didn’t pan out. I’m sorry, I wasn’t provided any information on the attempts to sell the show elsewhere. All I can report is that the show is over.

Many ingredients went into this TV series. From the dedicated cast that breathed these characters to life, led by Matt Ryan as the comic-made-flesh embodiment of John Constantine, to the exceptionality talented crew that put unreal images on screen, to the original Hellblazer writers and artists who gifted us a universe.

As a general principle, writers don’t choose a writing career to achieve stardom. Whatever demons or insecurities drove them to find freedom of expression through written words generally keeps writers comfortably obscure behind their words. Nor do people choose writing as a means to financial freedom. I’d venture to guess that most who set out to write professionally never receive a paycheck for their hopeful scribbles or key strokes.

In fact, nobody I know ever chose a writing career — it chose them. You write because that’s what you do. Like breathing, it just happens and you have to do it and you just hope that someday somebody out there notices what you’re trying to say.

If that’s the dream of writers, the writers of Constantine lived the dream, because 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. The good news is that Constantine will live on for years in many more forms. But our time as caretakers has ended.

Thank you for letting us in.

Daniel Cerone

For fans of Constantine, this really is a sad, sad day. The show itself was largely well received by both fans and critics, and Ryan was a near-perfect fit as the famed Hellblazer. As mentioned, NBC felt that the show didn’t quite deliver the huge ratings they were hoping for, and then there was the cost involved in producing such an SFX-heavy show.

It’s believed that Guillermo del Toro is still working away on his Justice League Dark movie, which features John Constantine in a pivotal role. Whether Ryan would be under consideration for that remains to be seen, although it’s also a big “if” to see if that film finally ever even gets made at all.

So there we have it Constantine fans, mark this day in your calendar as the day that the magical, demonic, chain-smoking world of John Constantine was finally brought to an end on the small screen.

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