Constantine remains cancelled, showrunner Daniel Cerone sadly reports, following futile attempts to find the DC Comics-based series a new home.
The outlook for the freshman drama looked Grimm grim when NBC elected just weeks after its sub-Dracula premiere not to order a full season. Come early May, Cerone confirmed that the show would not continue at the Peacock, but offered the ray of hope that Warner Bros. TV was shopping it to other potential suitors.
TVLine reported in February that rumors of Constantine moving to Syfy, possibly retitled Hellblazer, were untrue, while CW president Mark Pedowitz last month dismissed talk that the DC series would hang with Arrow, The Flash et al.
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Cerone confirmed the series’ final fate — “the show is over” — in a message to fans, shared on Twitter Sunday afternoon:
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 exceptionally 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, than 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
