If you want more Constantine, you're in luck. If you wanted a reboot of the 2015 live-action NBC series, you're out of luck. The CW plans to bring Matt Ryan's Constantine back in an animated series. In the style of current Arrowverse spinoffs Vixen and The Ray, the show will premiere on The CW Seed streaming service March 24.
While CW Seed hasn't made a formal announcement, news of the animated show's premiere came as part of the announcement of the WonderCon 2018 lineup, a convention set to take place March 23-25 in Anaheim, Calif. According to Variety, the series starts streaming on CW Seed later that same day.
The Constantine animated series hype is currently getting buried by a new report from Entertainment Weekly confirming Ryan signed a contract to appear in the Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 finale. This came as a surprise to fans, since the network confirmed a two-episode arc just months ago. His first appearance was in Legends Season 3 episode 10, "Daddy Darhkest," where we saw Constantine flirt with Captain Cold, hook up with White Canary and hunt down a demon named Mallus.
Constantine will make his second appearance in Legends of Tomorrow Season 3 episode 15, "Necromancing the Stone." The CW has yet to release a synopsis, but it's the same episode where Jesse Quick reunites with Kid Flash. Both characters are from The Flash, though Kid Flash has since permentantly joined Legends. (Here's an explainer on all that).
The Entertainment Weekly report doesn't provide any details on why the creative team decided to add Constantine to the finale at the last minute, but his earlier cameo was the catalyst for arguably one of the best episodes in Arrowverse history. The episode made it clear dark magic will be needed to take down the possessive demon, Mallus. Who better to help than our favorite cigarette-wielding warlock? We'll also see Johnathon Schaech reprise his role as Jonah Hex and Franz Drameh return as Jax in the Legends finale.
The Constantine animated series is executive produced by David S. Goyer, who worked on the live-action Constantine, and Greg Berlanti, who is behind The Flash and Arrow. Sarah Schechter of Legends of Tomorrow and Butch Lukic of Justice League Action serve as producers. The series is written by J.M. DeMatteis (Justice League Dark) and directed by Doug Murphy (Young Justice).
Check out the synopsis below:
This all-new animated series from Warner Bros. Animation and Blue Ribbon Content follows DC's popular comic book character John Constantine (voiced by the live action series star Matt Ryan), a seasoned demon hunter and master of the occult. Armed with an arcane knowledge of the dark arts and a wicked wit, he fights the good fight. With his soul already damned to hell, he'll do whatever it takes to protect the innocent. With the balance of good and evil on the line, Constantine uses his skills to face the supernatural terrors that threaten our world and send them back where they belong. After that, who knows… maybe there's hope for him and his soul after all.
The live-action Constantine Season 1 is available to stream for free on CW Seed.
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