Back in September, NBC picked up the TV rights for “Constantine,” based upon the DC Comics/Vertigo character John Constantine. At the time, it was noted that NBC had agreed to a sizable penalty; which greatly increased the likelihood of “Constantine” going to series next fall. Today, the project took another major step towards that goal.
According to Deadline, NBC has officially given the greenlight for a “Constantine” pilot. Originally created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and Jamie Delano in 1985, John Constantine made his debut as a supporting character in Swamp Thing before eventually graduating into his own comic book series, Hellblazer.
Keanu Reeves portrayed John Constantine in the Constantine feature film that was released in 2003. While Reeves played Constantine as an American, the character was originally a British “working class magician” with a reputation for being an occult investigator and a con man who often outwitted his enemies without using magic.
The new “Constantine” pilot is being co-written by David S. Goyer and Daniel Cerone, both of whom are executive producing the project. Goyer has several previous comic book adaptations under his belt, including the Blade trilogy, The Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel. Cerone was previously an executive producer of “The Mentalist” on CBS.
Earlier today, Fox confirmed that its Batman prequel series, “Gotham” is going to series during the next TV season. If “Constantine” and “The Flash” (at the CW network) go forward, there will possibly be four DC live action TV series on the air counting “Arrow” as well.
