At least she lives?

posted 7/11/2014

Before the pilot has aired, it looks like the status quo for Constantine has shifted. For fans of the character, it's a nod toward the source material, but for actor Lucy Griffiths, it's an opportunity to audition elsewhere.

Griffiths played Liv in the pilot, a young woman with supernatural gifts who was "...the daughter of one of John Constantine's (Matt Ryan) oldest friends." In the original direction for the series, Liv and Constantine would have traveled the country, fighting demons, righting wrongs and perhaps bantering in a will-they, won't-they-before-Constantine-accidentally-gets-her-damned-to-Hell scenario.

(The Hollywood Reporter -- probably just in poor phrasing -- refers to the show as "NBC's rookie comic drama.")

But now Liv is out as a regular. While the character is still in the pilot, she will disappear from further adventures, as showrunners Daniel Cerone (Dexter) and David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, DaVinci's Demons) delve into the source material, the Vertigo comic book series Hellblazer, for sidekicks.

They plan to begin with Zed, a character from early in the run, and who is still uncast.

If you're not familiar with Hellblazer, know that sidekicks don't seem to last too long with John Constantine, a troubled man with a gift for magic who knows that it carries an awful price. While he's been cleaned up a bit for television (by all reports no longer a smoker, as I suspected would be the case), it's good to see that Constantine will remain dangerous, especially to those who think they care about him.

Constantine will air Friday nights at 10 p.m. on NBC, beginning October 24, 2014.

Derek McCaw