Ever since NBC’s Constantine was first announced, Hellblazer fans still jilted by the Keanu Reeves version have worried the show might similarly fail the character by not having him be blond, British, and scruffy. But thanks to the producers’ insistence, John Constantine will at least be those three things—though you probably shouldn’t count on Constantine’s every other attribute making it to TV. To name just the latest example: his bisexuality. During Sunday’s TCA presentation, executive producer Daniel Cerone said that particular aspect of the character’s life wouldn’t even be hinted at, arguing that Constantine’s sexuality was a rather minor part of his story. “Within this tome of three decades [of comics] there might have been one or two issues where he’s seen getting out of bed with a man. So [maybe] 20 years from now? But there are no immediate plans,” Cerone said, which is essentially the same as saying it will never happen.
Cerone and his fellow executive producer, David S. Goyer, also addressed one of Constantine’s other, more frequent indulgences you won’t ever see: his cigarette smoking. Cerone acknowledged those earlier reports that the character-defining habit hadn’t met with broadcast standards, which allow for people gnawing on bones on Hannibal, so long as they don’t also smoke them. “It’s like, look, he’s a smoker,” Cerone said. “We’re on network television, so we’re limited to what we can do and what we can show. But within that framework we’re going to be very honest to the character … I believe Constantine has a very healthy sex life. We’re not going to see that on TV either.”
Still, Goyer argued that at least they’d fought suggestions that Constantine take up gum or the nicotine patch, saying the character will be a smoker who will mostly be seen having smoked. “We thought [showing him] having to snub something out is more truthful,” Goyer said, without explaining why they couldn’t then just as easily show Constantine “snubbing out” his lover’s penis, so to speak.
Anyway, Constantine premieres this fall, by which point he will be a detective in a trench coat solving regular mysteries and also his name is Columbo, only without the cigars.