Constantine TV Series Release Date, Latest News: Set for Oct. 24 Premiere and Green-lit for a Full 2014-2015 Season; But John Constantine Won’t Be Shown as a Bisexual or as a Chainsmoker on TV!

By Kara Michelle Aug 27, 2014 08:15 AM EDT

Constantine TV Series Release Date, Latest News: Set for Oct. 24 Premiere and Green-lit for a Full 2014-2015 Season; But John Constantine Won't Be Shown as a Bisexual or as a Chainsmoker on TV!

Constantine, the TV series based on the characters in DC Comics' Hellblazer comic books, will premiere on October 24, 2014, at the 10 PM Friday time slot on NBC. It stars Matt Ryan as John Constantine, an ex-conman turned demon hunter and master of the darkest occult arts. The pilot episode is directed by Neil Marshall based on a script written by Daniel Cerone and David Goyer.

According to NBC's plot summary, the series will follow Constantine as he "use his skills to travel the country, find the supernatural terrors that threaten our world and send them back where they belong." In his quest to rid the world of demons and other dark forces, he will be backed by his oldest friend and staunch companion, Chas Chandler (played by Charles Halford) who possesses uncanny, almost supernatural survival skills as well as by the artist Zed Martin (played by Angelica Celaya). He will also be watched over by Manny (played by Harold Perrineau), an angel assigned to him.

Lucy Griffiths will guest star in the pilot episode as Liv Aberdeen, the daughter of one of Constantine's oldest friends who has suddenly become a target for demons because of the unexpected emergence of her "second sight" - an ability to see the worlds behind our world and predict supernatural occurrences. And Constantine must do all he can to protect her.

For fans of the Hellblazer comic books, don't expect a bisexual Constantine in the TV version. As showrunner and script writer Daniel Cerone explained to Entertainment Weekly, "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." Also, neither will the TV Constantine be shown smoking heavily as he did in the comic books as well as in the 2005 Keanu Reeves movie. Said executive producer David Goyer in the same interview, "He is a smoker in the show, we're not shying away from it, but we're not glorifying it." And Gerone added, "It's like, look, he's a smoker. 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."