“Constantine”: Saved or Damned?

Fans of the NBC series Constantine are still waiting for news about a possible second season.  Following the life and adventures of professional exorcist John Constantine, the show is based on the long running comic book Hellblazer from Vertigo Comics (later acquired by DC Comics).  While not getting perhaps the best ratings, the show was pretty solid despite an airing time shift when the back half of the first season aired.

It seemed like NBC-owned SyFy would possibly pick up the series if NBC did NOT renew it’s contract, but no further episodes have been ordered by anyone at this point.  The reason everyone (myself included) thought SyFy would be picking up the series is because they showed two episodes of the series over a weekend right after it premiered.  Production on the series officially shut down the first week of January, and no further information has officially been announced.

Michael Ausiello had posted this piece over on TVLine, where he apparently has the inside line on what is happening with Constantine.  Ausiello often answers letters from his readers, and this time it involved our Master Of The Dark Arts.

Question:  I keep hearing rumours that NBC is shipping Constantine over to Syfy as the more source-hugging Hellblazer. Are the fans just clutching at straw houses built on quicksand, or might we just see this darker-toned series come into being? –Katie

Answer:  I followed this lonnnnnng breadcrumb trail to its original source, and then did some asking around on my own, and the short answer is no, there is zero truth to the rumor that Syfy will ride to Constantine‘s rescue, if need be. (Sorry, just the messenger!)

I usually take anything he says with a grain of salt, but it’s looking more and more like SyFy will NOT swoop in and save the series.  This is not unexpected, but we were hoping with the #SaveConstantine campaign that something good would happen.  Hell, even William Shatner jumped on the tweet wagon and did what he could to help save the series.

Even if it's over for the next 2 hours please use the #Constantine hash tag while tweeting in a couple of tweets.

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) February 14, 2015

We should also point out that while the current series is aired on NBC, the actual Constantine property is owned by Warner Brothers.  Hope may not be lost yet, with the success of DC comics properties on WB-owned CW Network.  Just a thought.

We’ll let you guys know how this story progresses, and if any more news happens.