As every network rushes to claim its own Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. competitor about the ordinary, and therefore easier-to-put-on-TV people in a comic book world, NBC has set its sights on Constantine as a potential drama series. Building a comics-based supernatural procedural around John Constantine—a cynical con artist and magician who’s reluctantly drawn into playing the role of a demon-slaying detective (possibly because he keeps wearing that trenchcoat)—seems an obvious, if a bit redundant choice for NBC, given that it already has a supernatural procedural about a demon-slaying detective in Grimm. Still, Constantine comes preloaded with a built-in fanbase and a deep comic-book mythology that can be easily ignored by David S. Goyer, who’s partnering to write and executive produce alongside The Mentalist’s David Cerone.
Of course, it also comes saddled with the droopy baggage of Keanu Reeves, whose portrayal (even more so than whoever plays him in Guillermo del Toro’s not-yet-confirmed Justice League Dark) will be the low bar that the star of Constantine will have to clear. It remains to be see whether he’ll at least be blonde and British this time, or whether Goyer will view that as just a crutch.