NBC’s ‘Constantine’ Finale: Rising Darkness Answers, Ratings Tick Up, Producers Tease, Constantine Chain Smokes

NBC’s Constantine, the little horror supernatural detective show that could, managed to not fall in the ratings for the first time. According to Comic Book Movie, the NBC show’s finale managed to break even with last week’s 0.8 rating, but rose 6 percent in total viewership to 3.13 million viewers. In some unfortunate news for the fate of John Constantine and his Hellblazers, original reports from the Inquisitr and others, may have proven to be mere rumors. SyFy’s senior executive, Ted A’Zary, seemed to confirm via tweet that the Constantine rebranding to Hellblazer, and move to SyFy, was not true.

“A: I’ve heard no discussion of #Constantine moving to Syfy. I don’t know where that rumor came from.”

There will be potential ‘Spoiler Alerts‘ past this point. Abandon all hope, ye who have not watched the show up to, or past, this point.

Now, that that is out of the way, the issue of Rising Darkness has been answered. Well, sort of. Depending on how you interpret it, it would appear Manny the angel is leading the rising darkness. In the end, he tells Papa Midnight that he is commanding the Brujeria, but tells him “John Constantine is off limits.”

Many have indicated through the net that perhaps Manny is just saying this to stop Papa Midnight from hunting and collecting the bounty on Constantine, but for those that remember the episode with the fallen angel, her wings were black and Manny’s wings are now black.

It is safe to assume Manny is behind the rising darkness, or at least now part of it. Zed and Jim Corrigan kissed. Jim Corrigan, aka DC Comics’ The Spectre, is now aware of Zed’s vision of his glowing, green, bloody death.

This all ends one of the darkest episodes of the season, which is also the season one finale, or “series” finale. The episode borrowed a lot from the Hellblazer #4, “Waiting for the Man.” Original Constantine writer Jamie Delano, who publicly stated he refuses to watch any adaptation of his comic, was referenced with the “4 Delano Street.”

It is safe to say that anyone watching, and for those who have not, will be excited about, John Constantine smoked in the finale. He smoked a lot. One could say, for this show at least, he chain smoked the finale. Those who have been following the NBC show from day one recall that the network’s guide lines and censorship seemed to forbid Constantine from smoking, which took many by surprise and anger because the character can never be seen without a cigarette in John Constantine: Hellblazer comics.

It was only the Keanu Reeves film that kept true to his chain smoking, and also borrowed from the Hellblazer volume, Dangerous Habits.

After all the buzz on the web about the chain smoking finale, Constantine producer Daniel Cerone hinted in a tweet that the Hellblazer volume could come to fruition if the show is picked up for future seasons, Comicbook.com reports.

“We told you John smokes on our show. How can we do Dangerous Habits if he didn’t? Trust. Believe. #Constantine [sic]”

Matt Ryan, who plays John Constantine on the NBC show, hinted at the Dangerous Habits arc as well. Though, he also mentioned wanting The Family Man plot as well.

NBC’s Constantine is at a crossroads. The #SaveConstantine army has Twitter ablaze. According to Comic Book Movie, “Papa Midnite” and “#ConstantineFinale” was trending in the U.S. and worldwide. One might place the decision after Season 1 DVD sales, which are likely to crop up, but not certain.

What are your thoughts? Will Constantine Hellblaze into a second season somewhere, or will the powers that be at NBC discard their only entry into comic book TV adaptations?

Leave your thoughts.

[Image via Matt Ryan’s Twitter/NBC]