We recently spoke with NBC’s new hit show executive producers, Daniel Cerone, who also serves as show runner, and David S. Goyer of Constantine.

During our interview we found out more about how they developed this series with fans in mind and what’s coming this season… Plus why David and Daniel really want to make sure you watch tonight’s episode “A Feast of Friends” (on and we agree, we screened it – and aren’t offering any spoilers, except to say, you don’t want to miss it).

Here’s our Interview below… scroll down to see the sneak peek video trailer for A Feast of Friends and a Digital Exclusive video from the writers of Constantine…

Question: What got you interested in this project?

David S. Goyer told us… “…the genesis of the project is that I had a meeting with Warner Bros. Television. This is sort of right after “Man of Steel” had come out and they asked if I would be interested in doing a television show based on a DC property. And so we just started having, you know, a general conversation about which one made most sense.

…I asked about John Constantine. I’ve always been a huge fan. I was reading Swamp Thing when he was introduced. And, in fact, I have a letter printed in one of the early issues that he was introduced as a fan, I think when I was in high school or something like that.

No Superpowers

…And the reason for why is the right time, I’ve done…“The Dark Knight” film from Superman… But one of the reasons why I always like John Constantine is he didn’t have superpowers, he didn’t have a costume, and he always use the kind of sun (unintelligible) at those characters. So it was refreshing for me to tell a story about an antihero as opposed to a hero and he is someone who was really damaged and I just feel like he’s one of the great characters of sort of modern literature and, I don’t know, it was a different change of pace, you know?”

Question: How does the fan base help you develop the storylines you want to produce?

constantine-tv-series-matt-ryanDavid S. Goyer told us… “…it’s interesting… I’ve adopted quite a few comic book properties now. And  it’s tricky because I think you have to be really attentive to the fan base. 

…[like] Steve Jobs… You can’t give the market what they say they want. You want to give them something that they haven’t even thought of. If you give them exactly what they want, they become disappointed by the same token. 

The way that we’ve always tried to measure it is that, we’ve tried to dip in with the fans and be aware of what are the issues that are most important to them, what are the core concepts that are most important, with the characters what are the most important.

But… if the show is going to flourish and broaden its audience, we need to be able to respond to an audience greater than just the core comic book fans. And so it needs to work for both audiences.”

Daniel Cerone told us… “…David and I came [at] this as fans of the show… that’s really the bottom line, we fell in love…

We weren’t new to the character

We fell in love with all the things about John Constantine that the fans did…or at least based on what I’ve read of the fans.

… we needed that smartass, wisecracking, gallows humor, scruffy blonde-haired, trench coat-wearing, cigarette-smoking breath, with a fatalistic attitude and this, deeply humanist point of view for reasons that he doesn’t even understand.

I mean, we like that character

That was someone that just appealed to us. So we’re going to be true to that no matter what.

…And then when you start – and we wanted to stay true to the world and the characters. And then you take that foundation and you have to figure out, “Okay, how can we pour that into a show that can last and sustain itself on a weekly basis” and NBC had certain desires for the show. They wanted stories that were told every week. So as David mentioned before, this is a bit of a hybrid. I mean, for us, it was “Okay, how do we figure out how to both, you know, as fans, tell the story we want to tell about the evolution of this character and his relationships, you know, as well as, you know, some closed-end stories to broaden out the fan base?” So yes. I mean, we came out of it as fans.”

David S. Goyer told us… “…to build on what Daniel said…because we were fans of the character, when we first met with NBC, we said “Look, you know, we know that the [other] movie is out there and it wasn’t British and he didn’t have blonde hair” and I think that that movie had a lot of great attributes but because we had fallen in love with the John Constantine as depicted in the comic books, it was our mission, to try to bring to life the character that as accurately reflected the character we had fallen in love with as possible.

Does he have to be British?

So when NBC says “Well, does he have to be British? Does he have to wear skinny tie in a trench coat? Does he have to be blonde? Does he have to smoke?” we said “Yes.” And they said “Why?” And we said “Because that’s the character we fell in love with.”

Daniel Cerone told us… “…they were very open and accepting and loving and they wanted to embrace the fans, too, but at a certain point, like when it came to casting, Matt Ryan does not have blonde hair. And initially, they’re like “Do we really need to lighten his hair” and we’re like “Yes we do.” They got the first draft of the script and they saw sort of all of the kind of British euphemisms and colloquialisms written into his dialog and they’re like “That might be off-putting. Does he really need to be British?” And we…

We said “Yes.”

David S. Goyer told us… “…he does. So at every step of the way, we fought for that. And to their credit, they were very open and they understood our passion and I believe the fans’ passion for the character.”

Daniel Cerone told us… “…But… it’s important because we were fans of the character and have been fans of the character for decades ourselves. So we were really determined to try to bring to life, you know, a version of Constantine that was accurate.”

Question: What can you tell us as far as how far are we going to go into the Constantine/Methos early on? Are you going to introduce a lot of familiar stuff in the comics?

Daniel Cerone told us… “…We’re digging as deeply into the Constantine/Methos as we possibly can… it really is inspiring much of our storytelling… the episode that is airing this Friday, which we’re extremely excited about, “Feast of Friends” is the title. And that’s a story that’s literally ripped from the pages of “Hellblazer.” It is the first story…

Feast of Friends

“First issue from the “Hellblazer” issue and it brings back Gary Lester, who is one of John’s friend from Newcastle. And it’s a fantastic story that translated so well to screen and I would urge [people] to watch it … because it is – seriously, it’s our show at its pinnacle and it just sort of really kind of set a bar of everything that we hope this show can be and can do… (watch the trailer promo below)

The Newcastle Crew

But in a broader sense, over the course of the season, we’re breaking up 17 right now. And we have a fantastic ride ahead. Before the end of the season, you’re going to meet and get to know every one of John’s friends from Newcastle that were involved in the sort of faithful exorcism of Astra that, you know, led to the torment – external torment of John’s soul. 

And so you’re going to meet them all. I mean, look, Papa Midnite, I think, we have now in four episodes. Jim Corrigan comes back for a couple of more. I’m reading an outline right now for Episode, what is it, 16 that includes Terence Thirteen with…

We have Felix Faust.

…we have this incredible source material. And we want to honor it and dig as deeply into it as we possibly can and, at the same time, we’re a weekly network show and we have weekly stories. And we’re trying to present the best of both worlds in terms of ongoing mythology, with the Hellblazer and DC world but wrapped around weekly stories the viewers can hook into.

Spoilers

and the only spoiler I will give is that… we do have an episode that involves flashbacks where we basically tell that story and we get to know more about Chas, we can meet Renee and his daughter, Renee’s wife, ex-wife or they’re separated right now and his daughter and we kind of dig into that story and figure out what makes Chas tick.“

David S. Goyer told us… “…And I would add to that that even when the first 13 episodes are down, people will be surprised at how much kind of background we filled in on various characters and even in terms of the relationship with John and Manny and Zed’s back story and it’s not just taste of the week.”

Watch this new promo for the Constantine episode: A Feast of Friends

Watch Constantine on Fridays after Grimm at 10 PM on NBC

Based on the wildly popular DC Comics series “Hellblazer,” seasoned demon hunter and master of the occult John Constantine (Matt Ryan, “Criminal Minds”) specializes in giving hell… hell. 

Want more Constantine? Check out this latest Digital Exclusive and other clips below

(Photo Credit: NBC)

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