This first trailer for CONSTANTINE really hates to put on airs

As you may have heard, killing season is officially underway over in American TV land . This seasonal cut has been especially brutal, with not even names like JJ Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron able to get shows off the ground, never mind keep them afloat. It would seem that for shows to truly make it, you need a little magic. Luckily, that’s something that Constantine definitely has.

The latest adaptation of the long-running critically praised Vertigo comic book, Hellblazer – which was recently picked up for a full series order by NBC – also boasts something that the Keanu Reeves 2005 feature film adaptation didn’t: A proper British John Constantine, played by Welsh actor Matt Ryan (Criminal Minds).

As can be seen from this first trailer though, he seems to be lacking his trademark chain smoking – I understand NBC’s reluctance to promote something unhealthy, but it’s a huge part of the character’s designs – and he doesn’t quite sound the way I always “heard” Constantine in my head, but other than that I really like what I see. The shows appears to have a properly dark tone, the VFX looks superb for a TV budget, and they don’t appear to be shirking away from the mythology of the source material nor Americanizing it too much, despite the story taking place across the pond from Constantine’s usual British haunts.

Constantine also stars Lucy Griffiths (True Blood) and Harold Perrineau (Lost), and will be hitting TV screens some time in the third quarter of the year.

Last Updated: May 12, 2014