Latest ‘Constantine’ Rumors: Headed to Syfy? Why That’s A Good (& Bad) Thing

We here at Geekscape are massive fans of Constantine, and we’re doing our best to support the littlest DC Comics show that can. Arrow and The Flash might be the cool jocks of the class, but Constantine is that really nice but kind of quiet person that might be expelled if he doesn’t study more.

The latest rumor concerning everyone’s favorite occult detective is a really fascinating one: The show might be rebranded as Hellblazer and air on Syfy.

From Cinelinx:

Despite the low numbers, NBC’s Constantine show has a very active and rabid fan base.  When word about the series’ production halt came about, the internet was flooded with #SaveConstantine posts and hope for the future.  Sadly, things haven’t been looking all that good.  Recently NBC announced a wave of show renewals for their channel and the DC Comics show was nowhere to be seen.  So is all hope lost for this show?  Maybe not…

 

I’ve heard from a couple of sources now that NBC doesn’t really want to give up on Constantine and are actively searching for ways to keep the show going.  Let me preface the next thing I’m about say with this: the sources have made it clear that this is an IDEA/possible plan being bandied about.  So it’s not 100% and may not come to pass, but it is one of the more popular ideas being put out there right now amongst the show-heads.

 

Still with me?  Okay.  The idea here isn’t so much to keep Constantine going on NBC but to move it to the Syfy Channel (where the marathon they ran of the show did very well) and rebranding it as Hellblazer.  The new channel would give them a little more freedom to explore some of the darker aspects of the comic and appeal to a broader fanbase.

It’s still only a rumor and not an actual thing that’s going to happen, but let’s speculate because this is the internet and that’s all we do: it’s a great plan. Constantine clearly has dedicated fans willing to follow it into hell (HAHA, get it?). #SaveConstantine trends each time an episode airs. It’s like chanting “WE WANT SOMETHING” when that something is standing right there with their arms up.

Syfy has already aired Constantine with a marathon a few months ago, so this wouldn’t be the weirdest and biggest change ever. In fact, Syfy (when it was Sci-Fi) aired Heroes reruns to help build the audience for NBC.

And just how much cooler is the Hellblazer title than Constantine? Both names are evocative and unique for sure, but Hellblazer is far easier to understand and is just so rad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQauGK0AeS4

Basic cable is a great place for a show like Constantine. The show hasn’t shied away from the grosser aspects that John Constantine involves himself with. Last night’s episode had John inspect a corpse with an exposed chest. Despite having seen every nasty zombie and horror media, and even some actual medical procedures here and there, I got pretty squeamish.

Still, on basic cable where shows like The Walking Dead thrive, material like Breaking Bad explored the darker reaches of the human psyche, and The Americans can do some of the most brutal stuff ever seen, Constantine might be in better company. Let’s keep up with the high school metaphor: Constantine is that same nice kid but is like, super into punk, prog metal and gross stuff that turns you off. Putting the show on basic cable is like him going to a concert where he can hang out with others just like him instead of getting weird looks from everyone else in class.

Furthermore, it can benefit Syfy. Almost everybody had a laugh at the channel’s expense when its president admitted they missed the genre-TV train that everyone is on board now. Game of Thrones, The 100, The Walking Dead, Arrow, The Flash, all of these are massively popular shows that could have done well for Syfy but now are nowhere near an inch of them. Syfy had momentum after the groundbreaking Battlestar Galactica reboot, but then they tried to attract a wider audience and lost focus. Now they’re Sharknado.

(If you blame WWE’s presence you can go fuck yourself, pro wrestling is a weird and awesome subculture that all geeks should love. Check out WWE NXT, Lucha Underground, or New Japan Pro Wrestling which is offering its stuff this month for free.)

Syfy is slowly but surely trying to win back viewers. While geeks aren’t normally into reality programming, having shows like Face/Off or Heroes of Cosplay are modest efforts that show that reality TV isn’t just for the uber-rich to be dumb asses. I’m a huge fan of Dominion, an apocalyptic series about humans warring with heaven’s angels. Z Nation, their zombie series, is starting to get an audience which has legitimately surprised me. Defiance is doing well, and 12 Monkeys is getting buzz like crazy. Then there’s Helix, which a friend told me he didn’t expect to like, and Ascension was a cool experiment.

Constantine would be an amazing fit. It can perform exactly how it does now and not concern itself with cancellation, and it pretties up Syfy in their mission to become must-see TV. Everybody wins.

http://youtu.be/ntqjeVq2qyA?list=PLe1meJtylm2UmSTzEFbP-k6wS5Z2Ms1FQ

Except maybe not. You should know that I think this is a great move, but a move to Syfy is something of a defeat for nerd culture. Constantine is one of the most popular comic book characters of all time, so if his show — on broadcast TV, which rubs elbows with Jimmy Fallon and SNL — moves to the network that the mainstream associates with weird stuff they would never watch, it seals the fate of Constantine to remain a niche property.

Think of it this way: Green Arrow was a D-string superhero barely known by the mainstream, but a well-made TV show on an accessible network allowed him to become a household name. So how is it that Constantine, who was voted the third most popular comic book character of all time by Empire magazine and once was portrayed by Keanu Reeves, can’t attract the same audience?

We talk often about how nerds have taken revenge. Everybody sees the Marvel movies, your whole family gathers for Game of Thrones, you and your friends get excited for The Walking Dead, and comic conventions are bigger than they ever have been and are no longer an easy joke. San Diego Comic-Con is so huge, the city depends on it every year to stimulate their local economy. For the entertainment industry and certain cities, geeks are needed.

Constantine‘s very premise is as grand and big as something like Doctor Who but its punk heritage gives it a sharp edge. Should it be popular, Constantine could open the doors for more similar media. What happens when it’s rejected?

One little weird show getting moved to a more appropriate network isn’t the death knell for who we are. Far from it. But it’s a stark reminder that we haven’t penetrated the culture as much as we thought we have.

As of right now Constantine is still an NBC show and a move to Syfy isn’t even hinted at. Keep up with Geekscape and we’ll let you know more as soon as we do. Until then, #SaveConstantine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwtt4Eapeyk