When The CW head Mark Pedowitz waved off rumors about Constantine on his network with a really bizarre comment about the NBA or something, I considered the show was finished. No one is dumb enough to build buzz for a hot property on their network with a confusing metaphor. I went on my mourning period before I enjoyed the rest of this current TV golden age. I think this was around the time Daredevil premiered.
But some held on hope. Sadly, those who did can now exert their energy elsewhere: Constantine is totally, 100% finished. No Netflix. No CW. No whatever thing Big Lots has. Executive producer Daniel Cerone confirmed that much today in a genuinely moving, heartfelt letter:
His letter is reproduced below. From Daniel Cerone:
I promised I’d share news when I had it — sadly, that news is not good. The cast and writers of Constantine are being released from their contracts. The studio tried to find a new home for the show, for which we’re forever grateful, but those efforts didn’t pan out. I’m sorry, I wasn’t provided any information on the attempts to sell the show elsewhere. All I can report is that the show is over.
Many ingredients went into this TV series. From the dedicated cast that breathed these characters to life, led by Matt Ryan as the comic-made-flesh embodiment of John Constantine, to the exceptionality talented crew that put unreal images on screen, to the original Hellblazer writers and artists who gifted us a universe.
As a general principle, writers don’t choose a writing career to achieve stardom. Whatever demons or insecurities drove them to find freedom of expression through written words generally keeps writers comfortably obscure behind their words. Nor do people choose writing as a means to financial freedom. I’d venture to guess that most who set out to write professionally never receive a paycheck for their hopeful scribbles or key strokes.
In fact, nobody I know ever chose a writing career — it chose them. You write because that’s what you do. Like breathing, it just happens and you have to do it and you just hope that someday somebody out there notices what you’re trying to say.
If that’s the dream of writers, than [sic] the writers of Constantine lived the dream, because we’re leaving behind wild and passionate fans who believe in and were moved by what we tried to do. To leave such a significant, dedicated and active fan base on the table — that’s the real sadness. You all deserve many years of the series we set out to make, and we’re disappointed that we couldn’t deliver that to you. The good news is that Constantine will live on for years in many more forms. But our time as caretakers has ended.
Thanks for letting us in.
Daniel Cerone
What hurts more than the confirmation of the series’ end, is how right Cerone is. First, about writing: This job kind of sucks. Whether it’s journalism or fiction and entertainment writing, it kind of sucks. The benefits are great: you meet amazing people, you travel, and it’s absolutely rewarding whenever people tell you they read your stuff. The whole reason to write is for people to read it, so when people actually do it’s wonderful. And when they tell you, you feel like you’re qualified for a Nobel Prize. Never mind that all you’ve really done is write a funny joke about the Hulk’s schlong or something.
But writers aren’t sexy. Not in the way athletes, models, or rockstars are. Writers aren’t granted VIP access to clubs. Writers aren’t given free swag. Books signed by incredibly significant writers who have passed on are easier to buy than something Kanye West scribbled on with a Sharpie. We can hate this broken celebrity culture all we want, but we need to accept it if we want to maintain sanity. (Not that any writer is sane anyway.)
Secondly, Cerone is right: Constantine may not have more episodes, but it still exists. Maybe at some point NBC or the studio can release the show on home media and fans can enjoy it whenever they want. Firefly had nearly the same amount of episodes but that show has never felt like it’s gone away. While Constantine may never get Hellblazer: The Movie three years from now, they can still enjoy what was made, appreciate it, and move on to whenever the next reinterpretation of this character happens. Because this show seriously demonstrated that a non-superhero series can work, it just didn’t work the way anyone hoped.
I have faith we haven’t seen the last of John Constantine and his world. Maybe now just isn’t the right time.