With a certain amount of trepidation I am finally caving in and talking about the PILOT (that’s right, no guarantees we’ll ever see it) for NBC‘s Constantine. I really want this one to happen, and I’m afraid this will jinx it, but okay, here we go.
Back in September, NBC bought the project with penalty (NBC will pay a penalty if it doesn’t air the pilot) with Daniel Cerone (The Dark Corner, Threshhold, Dexter, Charmed) and David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, Da Vinci’s Demons, the Dark Knight trilogy) as writers/executive producers.
Based on the DC/Vertigo comic books, John Constantine is a snarky con-man-turned supernatural detective, which sounds absolutely excellent but also slightly reminiscent of Powers, which once again reminds me that not all pilots, even excellent comics-based pilots with great casts, see the light of day.
The green light for the Constantine pilot was officially given in January, and casting has now begun. As John Constantine, meet Matt Ryan. A Welshman, he was in the excellent UK series Collision, and here in Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.
The next two actors cast, per Deadline, are much more familiar to many of us. First is Lucy Griffiths, also known as Eric’s sister Norah on True Blood.
She’ll be playing Liv, the daughter of a late friend of Constantine’s. Constantine saves her from demons, and she discovers that she has the ability to see the supernatural amongst we non-supes. Sounds kinda like one of Nick’s abilities on Grimm. Excellent!
The next new cast member will always be Michael to me, though I loved him in The Unusuals and The Matrix, and many of you watched him on Sons of Anarchy.
Harold Perrineau will be taking on the role of the angel Manny, who watches over Constantine, and who can take over people’s bodies, though he’s only meant to observe and not intervene.
And finally in casting news, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Agent Shaw, Charles Halford, has been cast as Constantine’s best friend Chas, whose powerful survival skills just might be supernatural.
Yes, I’ll keep you posted about the Constantine pilot and together we can keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best: a great pilot with a series pickup.
