By Fans of the short-lived Constantine adaptation rejoice – the character will appear in an upcoming episode of Arrow‘s fourth season, according to the yesterday’s CW panel at the Television Critics Association.
Matt Ryan, who played the title character during the show’s one-season run on NBC last year, will travel to Starling City in the season’s fifth episode, “Haunted.” That episode will see supernatural detective John Constantine “critical support to Oliver (series star Stephen Amell)…when arrows aren’t enough.” CW president Mark Pedowitz also promised that episode will see a character “resurrected,” likely paving the way for Caity Lotz’s already-spoiled return to the series before her turn in the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow spinoff.
“We are thrilled to have Matt Ryan reprise the role of John Constantine,” said executive producer Marc Guggenheim. “Matt is an incredibly talented actor and his portrayal of this beloved character was always something we admired. The introduction of magic and mysticism on the show this season has provided a truly organic opportunity for us to bring John Constantine to Arrow … It will be a well-deserved tip of the hat to all the Constantine fans who were so incredibly supportive of that series.”
This is a genuinely surprising move from a show that’s proven to be remarkably adept at evolving beyond the run-of-the-mill CW drama it started as back in 2012. Although Arrow has given birth to a shared universe of shows akin to Marvel’s shared franchise on the big screen – first spinning off The Flash last year and Legends of Tomorrow next year – there was no indication during its brief run that Constantine was a part of that universe. Once it became clear that NBC would cancel the show, Amell offered to appear in a theoretical second season if it got picked up somewhere else. It wasn’t, of course, and that appeared to be that. But now Arrow seems to be taking the opportunity to use the character to introduce the mystic and spooky to its universe. It will be interesting to see how the show integrates the character and his universe, considering Arrow‘s general grim, psuedo-realistic tone.
[EW]