David S. Goyer thinks Constantine should have been on basic cable

By Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya  |  October 22, 2015 | 6:35pm
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David S. Goyer, creator of the short-lived NBC series Constantine, doesn’t think NBC was the right home for Constantine. (Earlier this year, NBC announced that the series, adapted from the comic series Hellblazer, would not be returning for a second season.) Variety reports that Goyer, whose screenwriting credits include the Blade trilogy as well as Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, had some words to say about the late Constantine at a press junket for one of his other shows, Starz’s Da Vinci’s Demons. “I loved Constantine,” Goyer said. “In retrospect, I don’t think it should have been on NBC. I think it was the wrong channel and I’m sure they probably agree with that as well.”

At the press junket for Da Vinci’s Demons, Goyer noted that Constantine showed significant gains in time-shifted viewing: “We almost doubled our numbers in DVR numbers, but they weren’t quite there in network television in counting those metrics,” he said. “If it had been on a basic cable channel, it could still be on.” But not even social media could save Constantine, and Goyer has found more success with his Starz series, which will begin its third and final season on October 24. But Gotham, Arrow, and The Flash all make it clear that comic-book adaptations can live and thrive on broadcast network television. Constantine and NBC just might not have been the right pairing, at least in Goyer’s mind.

Even though the show might be dead, the character lives on, thanks to the rapidly expanding DC TV universe. Matt Ryan, who starred as the titular character in Constantine, is set to make a cameo in the November 4 episode of The CW’s Arrow. “I adore Matt and I think he is the definitive depiction of the character, and I think it is super cool that Greg [Berlanti] and Andrew [Kreisberg] brought him into that show,” Goyer said of the upcoming Arrow event.

Goyer also co-wrote Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, which opens on March 25, 2016.

 
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