New details regarding J.J. Abrams' upcoming television reboot of DC's Constantine for HBO Max have reportedly surfaced.
According to The Illuminerdi, HBO Max's Constantine series is being developed under the working title of "Chimney," which is possibly a reference to John Constantine's affinity for cigarettes. Apparently, principal photography is set to begin sometime this fall and will run through February 2023. Filming is expected to take place in both the United Kingdom and Morocco.
The Illuminerdi previously reported that HBO Max's Constantine was seeking a BIPOC actor in their late 20s to play the lead role of John Constantine. However, the show's creative team has apparently narrowed its search, as the outlet's sources now say that the show is actively searching for a Black British male to bring the Hellblazer to life. Beyond that, though, no other casting information is available at this time.
Created by Alan Moore, Stephen R. Bissette, Rick Veitch and John Totleben, the British occult detective known as John Constantine first appeared in 1985's Swamp Thing #37. In 1988, the character spun off into his own solo series, John Constantine, Hellblazer, which was originally written by Jamie Delano and illustarted by John Ridgway. Hellblazer would become one of the core titles of DC's now-defunct Vertigo Comics imprint.
Constantine, a feature film adaptation of Hellblazer starring Keanu Reeves as an Americanized version of John Constantine, released in theaters in 2005. In 2014, Matt Ryan portrayed a more comics-accurate version of the Hellblazer on the NBC series Constantine. While NBC's Constantine was canceled after only one season, Ryan later reprised his version of John Constantine as part of The CW's Arrowverse, popping up on Arrow before becoming a series regular on DC's Legends of Tomorrow. Legends retired Ryan's version of Constantine at the end of its sixth season in September 2021, though the actor later appeared in Season 7 as a new character.
In February 2021, The Illuminerdi reported that HBO Max had partnered with J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company to develop a new Constantine series for the platform. This report was soon confirmed by Deadline. Abrams himself is set to executive produce the series alongside Bad Robot's Rachel Rusch-Rich and Ben Stephenson. British author Guy Bolton is attached to write and produce.
Constantine is one of multiple DC projects Bad Robot is working on as part of its overall deal with WarnerMedia. Abrams' company is also working on the upcoming HBO Max animated series Batman: Caped Crusader, as well as a feature film starring Zatanna, a magician/sorceress with ties to John Constantine. With the Constantine series and the Zatanna film, Bad Robot is seemingly building towards its planned Justice League Dark crossover.
Source: The Illuminerdi