Even though NBC's Constantine is now dead and buried, don't think that everyone's favorite demon hunter/supernatural master of the occult is forever down for the count: Arrow executive producers are intent on resurrecting Constantine and bringing him on board for a guest-starring role.
Last week at Comic-Con, executive producer Wendy Mericle and Stephen Amell, who plays the titular Arrow (AKA Oliver Queen) sat down at a panel to discuss season three and what to expect in the upcoming fourth season. During the discussion, the topic of Constantine came into the fray.
"It's something we've been talking to DC about and it's just a question of some political things, but also the actor's schedule," explained Mericle, "We're trying to work it out, but we don't know 100 percent if it's going to happen."
The actor-in-question is Matt Ryan, who portrayed the protagonist John Constantine on the eponymous show.
Amell, who champions the idea, has stated his active, ongoing support for the move. "Constantine is an NBC show, I'm on the CW. I had discussions with DC Comics - not NBC or the CW - DC Entertainment about guest starring on Constantine when it was on the air. That was and is on the table," he previously stated after the show was taken off the air in May.
While crossovers with characters banished to Cancellation Land have happened before (see: the Buffyverse and pretty much every iteration of every Star Trek spin-off), internetwork crossovers are highly rare; inasmuch to this, a superhero/demon hunter meet-up might seem like a distant cry for fans. But Amell and the Arrow showrunners have one more card to play - the DC Comics universe, which irrefutably binds the two comic book-inspired shows together - and have already approached DC Entertainment, bypassing TV network bureaucracy, hence the "political things" Mericle referred to in her statement.
But the term "political things" might be too dismissive of the complications surrounding this particular crossover. NBC's rights for Constantine have probably reverted back to Warner Bros, which owns Constantine (remember, folks: most networks don't own the rights to shows, they just lease them), but they might still have an option at stake. If this is the case, the jurisdictional red tape for the CW (which, keep in mind, is a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) might be too thick to cut.
The network's president, Mark Pedowitz, went on the record this past May in response to the idea. His remarks ("There's a rumor going around that I was gonna go play in the NBA ... at the moment it's just a rumor") have been interpreted as either chocking it up to the rumor mill or as an outright brush-off. It's pure conjucture, but if NBC is still paying Warner Bros. for a licensing fee, this makes sense - and it could also explain why The CW refused to pick up the show in its entirety.
Though Constantine was met with a mixed-to-positive reception, the supernatural procedural's cult following couldn't make up for it's just-about-mediocre ratings, and NBC decided not to renew the series for a second season. Despite efforts from the studio to find Constantine a new network to call its own, a change at renewal was finally quashed when executive producer Daniel Cerone harbingered the show's death knell in a letter to fans. After admitting defeat, Cerone promised that "[the] good news is that Constantine will live on for years in many more forms." A nice ominous touch, given the promise of a character resurrection via Arrow, no?
So Constantine fans, cross your fingers for a thematically fitting resuscitation - for your favorite protagonist, at least.
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