Speaking to Screen Rant, David S Goyer expanded on just how much of the supernatural DC universe we could see brought to life in NBC’s Constantine.
“I think you’ll see some of those…If the show takes off, ” Goyer adds.
“Even within the first 12 episodes we’ve introduced two or three characters from the broader DC universe that are not just exclusively from Hellblazer. [Jim] Corrigan has been mentioned, but there’s a couple of other characters we haven’t talked about that will show up as well.
“If the show takes off and we get our back nine and come back a second season, we sort of have access to that whole corner of the occult universe. So, hopefully we’ll be introducing those characters as is appropriate.”
In addition to Jim Corrigan – the future host of vengeance spirit The Spectre – there have also been nods to Doctor Fate, but for many fans it’s Swamp Thing they really want to see.
John Constantine was first introduced as an ally to plant elemental after all…
“It’s not something I think we’d attempt in the first season,” asserted Goyer. “We need to make sure that we can pull off the special makeup effects. We don’t want to do a cheesy version of Swamp Thing. It’s a lot easier to do Dr Occult or Zatanna or Jim Corrigan than it is to do Swamp Thing. So we’ll see.”
Obviously that’s no commitment that we’ll be seeing Swamp Thing in Constantine Season 2 and Dr Occult in Season 1, but you can see how rumours start.
Zatanna has already been confirmed for an upcoming episode but the Vertigo geek in me would rather it be kept brief, her style of magic was always better suited to the superhero world rather than the darker, more occult one.
It’s certainly no accident she got quite a prominent run in Smallville.
Doctor Occult, meanwhile, might be good fun.
The supernatural detective created by Superman’s Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster became fused with his partner Rose Psychic in 1985, becoming capable of swapping between genders. Occult was used memorably in Neil Gaiman and John Bolton’s The Books Of Magic to take trainee sorcerer Tim Hunter on a journey through the fairy kingdom.
That, we’d like to see, and his classic Sam Spade brand of gumshoe would be fantastic contrast to John’s ultra-modern cynic.
Constantine is airing from 24 October 2014 on NBC. You can buy Hellblazer: Original Sins for £11.99 at Amazon.co.uk and find out more about the comics that inspired the series with the100 All-Time Greatest Comics Bookazine.
