Could we be getting our first inklings of a merging of the DC television and movie universes? If del Toro finds NBC’s Constantine to his liking, then yes.
Guillermo del Toro sat down with IGN during San Diego Comic-Con to chat, and spoke briefly about the script and treatment for Justice League Dark. He seemed quite happy about the fact that “he, DC Entertainment, and WB are seeing eye-to-eye” on the potential film adaption, which is still currently sitting in the scripting stage.
For those not so familiar with Justice League Dark, it centers around a superhero team largely consisting of the more supernatural members of the DC Universe. The team was originally made up of Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Shade, the Changing Man and Zatanna — a lineup that would certainly appeal to del Toro, considering his affinity for creatures, monsters, and everything in between.
The team is dedicated to dealing with foes that take on a more supernatural and mystical edge — usually out of the scope of the more traditional Justice League.
Del Toro’s lineup for his adaption is a little different than the founding members, and he listed off Etrigan the Demon, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Constantine, and The Floronic Man specifically, but left the door open for a whole host of other DC Universe characters to find their way onto the big screen.
When IGN asked del Toro about DC and Warner. Bros’ intentions to keep the universes separate — citing NBC’s Constantine specifically as an example of a potential crossover into his film adaption — he said that he “would love to have The Spectre in it, because he’s one of the most… absolutely, beyond moral characters in this universe and he does crazy things… but, I’m happy with… they’re doing that with ‘Constantine.’ What I made clear to them is that the TV series will not effect the movie and they said that’s okay. They said you can have independence. Now, if we see the TV series and we can mesh with it or cast the same actor depending on where the movie is going, I would be happy to consider that.”
Though he doesn’t necessarily contradict that the universes will remain separate, we’re glad that del Toro is at least open to the possibility of casting Matt Ryan as his John Constantine in Justice League Dark.
Del Toro also admitted that he would be keeping a close eye on the Constantine television series as a fan. We’d certainly be excited to finally see some crossover between the television and movie universes, should del Toro like what he sees when the Hellblazer adaption airs later this year — and we love what we’ve seen of Matt Ryan’s portrayal of John Constantine so far.
You can watch the interview for yourself below. The comments regarding Justice League Dark start at around nine minutes in.
Justice League Dark is currently in development. Constantine premieres on October 24, at 10/9c, on NBC.
Source: CBM