Cancellation Watch: WB Appears to be Shopping Constantine Around to Syfy and Other Venues

When NBC announced that they were halting production on freshman series Constantine at thirteen episodes, the future for the show looked pretty grim as it appeared to be all but cancelled.  However, the network claimed that they were still mulling over the possibility of a second season for the show and it has been well received by fans and critics and also seen decent increases to its numbers from delayed viewing.  But its rating for its live broadcasts (the ones that matter most to the sponsors paying the bills) have continued to fall and I’m pretty sure that this Friday’s season finale will also act as the show’s series finale . . . on NBC.

Word broke yesterday that NBC is considering keeping Constantine alive by moving it to Syfy, which shares the same parent company Universal.  Now that’s a little misleading because it’s unlikely that NBC itself is actively involved in those discussions, they are probably just not blocking the move (as allegedly FOX did with Almost Human).  The Warner Bros. studio is almost certainly the active party here working on keeping Constantine alive.

According to ScreenRant, the idea is to shift the show to Syfy and re-title it Hellblazer (the name of the original comic book it is based  on).  That move would allow it to explore more of the dark themes from its source material and it would also not be as hindered by the restrictions placed on the broadcast networks.  Supposedly, all of the same cast and crew would follow Constantine to its new location as well.  However, the cable networks typically are not able to match the budgets of broadcast net shows, so cuts would have to be made somewhere.  But it still seems like they could work something out.

None of this is set in stone and the moment, and I’m certain that anything going on right would be considered exploratory conversations.  But the best thing to glean from this if the fact that WB (and/or NBC) has not given up on the show yet.  Constantine has developed a loyal following that has remained active on the social networks, and this show is definitely a much better fit on the cable channels because of its dark themes.  And if a deal cannot be worked out with Syfy (they currently have a very full development slate and have repeatedly said that they are not in the business of saving shows anymore), other venues are available which I am sure WB will consider.  I for one would like to see it go to Netflix where it will have even less censorial restriction upon it.

It’s very early at this point and I have seen announcements like this before that have gone nowhere (Terra Nova, Almost Human).  But Constantine is a very good show that is hampered mostly by not being a good fit for the broadcast networks, so it deserves a chance.  Keep your eye on this site for any further announcements and I wouldn’t get your hopes too high just yet.  But at least we know that the show is not dead in the water like it has appeared the last few weeks.