Space City Comic-Con: Matt Ryan Talks Constantine
Constantine, which debuted in late 2014 on NBC and based on DC/Vertigo comics’ roguish trenchcoat-wearing, chain-smoking magician, would not be renewed for a second season despite efforts by fans to push for its rescue. Matt Ryan (John Constantine) sat down for a Q&A at Houston’s Space City Comic-Con and discussed the show’s cancellation, the online movement to save the show, and the possibility for John Constantine to appear in other DC-based TV shows on other networks.
Ryan acknowledged the very big hurdle that Constantine had to overcome with its late Friday night scheduling. Although the show managed to effectively translate the source material better than previous attempts, it never managed to produce the ratings that NBC wanted to garner from that time slot.
“…We were [at] 10 o’clock on a Friday night and most of the demographic is out on Friday night at 10 o’clock and we had [about] an 85% increase in numbers after [an episode’s initial airing]. Television is changing so much that if [the network] hadn’t taken notice of that we would’ve been off the air a lot sooner. They loved the show but the problem was making the numbers work at that time slot.”
Because the show effectively adapted John Constantine from comics to the small screen, Constantine quickly gained a fanbase that rallied around the show when rumblings of cancellation ran abuzz online. The outpour of support from the fans as evidenced through #SaveConstantine on Twitter as well as other efforts to sound off their dismay through other social media outlets was deeply moving.
“The support on social media from all the fans… I don’t think we’d ever seen anything like that. It was absolutely unbelievable.. like a movement. And the show has such a cult following that NBC was really trying to make it work.”
Matt Ryan quickly addressed the possibility of guest-starring on CW’s Arrow. Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen) has vigilantly led the movement to get John Constantine appear on his show thus further establishing how the different creative properties in the DC Universe universe are all connected.
“…It’s an exciting thing and it kind of is on the table. But that’s all I can say… it would be great to see those two characters in the same space basically jamming with each other and what they would be doing together would be interesting as well. All I can say at this moment is that I would be honored and privileged to be on [Arrow].”
While John Constantine’s fate on the small screen remains uncertain, the first season of Constantine is available from streaming on Hulu Plus and Google Play.
