John Constantine is a fascinating character with many layers. He is someone who is haunted by the sins committed in the past and then suddenly sent to defend humanity from the forces of darkness. “John Constantine is a weather worn exorcist and expert on the supernatural and the occult. He is a detective, magician, and a hunter of demons.
There was a movie made by Francis Lawrence on the character of John Constantine based on DC’s Hell Blazer series starring Keanu Reeves in the year 2005. But its sequel was never conceived by the studio. One of the major reason includes Keanu Reeves’ reluctance to do it even though he admitted to having loved playing the character on Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ Live. Francis Lawrence has tried many times to get the sequel going on a modest budget ($35 million) but he never got the go-ahead from the studio. The first time Constantine series was aired on NBC but fans never got enough of it as it was discontinued/cancelled only after thirteen episodes. There was a major “Save Constantine” campaign launched by DC fans which were joined by Matt Ryan himself, but Comcast wasn’t interested.
It was then revived by CW Arrow. Marc Guggenheim (Executive producer) said “We are thrilled to have Matt Ryan reprise the role of John Constantine on an upcoming episode of Arrow. Matt is an incredibly talented actor and his portrayal of this beloved character was always something we admired”. “The introduction of magic and mysticism on the show this season has provided a truly organic opportunity for us to bring John Constantine to Arrow and the CW’s DC universe. It will be a well-deserved tip of the hat to all the Constantine fans who were so incredibly supportive of that series.” He guest-starred in the fifth episode of Arrow season 4 titled “Haunted” where he used his special skills and helped Green Arrow restore Sara’s soul to her body. But he is still unlikely to get a stand-alone TV series.
