An upcoming short from WB Animation features the return of John Constantine, and a familiar name will be lending his voice to the titular warlock.
A collection of four DC Showcase animated shorts will be released this year, three of which spotlight Kamandi, Blue Beetle, and The Losers. Those shorts served as bonus features on previously released DC animated films, but the fourth piece of the Showcase collection is the all-new Constantine: The House of Mystery. The short will be slightly longer than the other three, and stars an actor that’s become synonymous with the character over the last few years.
MATT RYAN BACK AS THE HELLBLAZER
Constantine will be voiced by Matt Ryan in the short, the fourth animated project in which he’s played the Hellblazer. The House of Mystery serves as a follow-up to 2020’s Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, and finds the mystic anti-hero trapped in the aforementioned House of Mystery.
DC Showcase and Constantine With The Illuminerdi at WonderCon 2022
In an exclusive interview with The Illuminerdi, Supervising Producer Rick Morales spoke about getting Ryan back in the recording booth as John Constantine:
“He’s Constantine, there was really no choice. When I spoke to our casting director about it, we just presumed it’s going to be him. There’s some continuity to it of course so we have to carry that over, but he embodies the character, and as good as Ernie (Altbacker) is at writing in Constantine’s voice, he knows that character.”
Along with Apokolips War, Ryan has voiced the character in such projects as Justice League Dark and Constantine: City of Demons. Those past performances helped shaped screenwriter Ernie Altbacker’s script for the House of Mystery short:
“After seeing him do Constantine on Justice League Dark, now I don’t write for Constantine, I write Matt Ryan doing Constantine,”
Ryan first took on the role of the supernatural detective in the NBC series Constantine back in 2014. The show was canceled following a 13-episode first season, but the character found new life on the CW. The actor also appeared on the fourth season of Arrow, and soon after became part of the main cast of Legends of Tomorrow.
Being in the Arrowverse also means appearing in crossovers, which Ryan did in 2019’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event. Constantine starred in parts two and three of the multi-episode special, which technically also served as episodes of Batwoman and The Flash, respectively.
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The season 7 finale of Legends of Tomorrow aired March 2, and there’s been no word on if the show will be returning for an 8th season. If the CW decides to move on from the quirky group of time-travelers, House of Mystery may be the only time Ryan makes an appearance as John Constantine in 2022.
WB Animation released its first batch of DC Showcase shorts in 2010, with the original collection being comprised of The Spectre, Jonah Hex, Green Arrow, and Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. Five more shorts were put out between 2019 and 2020, including Sgt. Rock, Death, The Phantom Stranger, Adam Strange, and Batman: Death in the Family.
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The Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! short was included as a bonus feature to Justice Society: World War II, The Losers was on the Blu-ray release of Batman: The Long Halloween – Part One, and Blue Beetle was paired with the second part of The Long Halloween. The four short collection is set to be released on Blu-ray and 4K Digital on May 3 for $24.99.
Constantine: The House of Mystery is Rated-R for “Some Bloody Violence”. How excited are you to see, or hear, Matt Ryan return as Constantine? Will you be checking out the latest collection of DC Showcase shorts? Make sure to leave a comment, and follow us on social media to stay updated with everything going on in the nerdy worlds you love.
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