‘Constantine’ Will Make Surprising Return as Cartoon on CW Seed

Perhaps it didn’t work as a film, and maybe the live-action series was canceled after one short season, but does that mean we shouldn’t give Constantine a shot at being a cartoon?

Last night, all eyes were on the Golden Globes, but The CW was busy renewing most of its shows, both smash hits and critical darlings. The network also announced plans to revive the John Constantine character, this time in animated form.

Created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben, and first appearing in The Saga of the Swamp Thing from June 1985, John Constantine is a deadpan con man and chain-smoking occult detective, whose look was based on Sting. DC Comics launched Constantine’s own series in 1988, and it ran for 300 issues, ending in February 2013.

In 2005, Constantine got his first adaptation: Keanu Reeves played the titular character, but one detail was noticeably missing — his British accent. Alan Moore’s name was also omitted from the created by credit, but that was Moore’s choice after his bad experiences with From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen screen adaptations. He instead deferred all his money to the artists behind Constantine’s Sting-ly appearance.

Then in 2014, Constantine was revived as an NBC drama series, this time with the right accent. This version was met with much better reviews from critics and fans, but NBC axed the show after its one season, thirteen episode run. Matt Ryan, who played this version of Constantine, even made an appearance on The CW’s Arrow shortly after the cancellation.

So it makes sense that Ryan will reanimate the character in this animated adaptation. Right now, the plan is for Matt Ryan to be in five or six 10-minute episodes on CW Seed, the CW’s digital home for originals like JoJoHead, Vixen (which also exists in the DC Universe), and of course, every episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Since Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Constantine all exist in the same DC universe, CW Seed seems like a perfect home for this new John Constantine. They’ve naturally hired Greg Berlanti to oversee the production, as he’s attached to all of their DC properties.

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Tell us what you think! Are you a fan of the Constantine character? And do you think Matt Ryan is still the best choice for the role? Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.