John Constantine, DC Comics’ blonde, chain-smoking, bisexual wizard, has been a popular target for adaptation over the years. Keanu Reeves played him in a 2005 movie, and Matt Ryan stepped into the role for a 2014 NBC series. His character was so popular that he crossed over into the Arrowverse, where he’s a fixture on Legends of Tomorrow to this day. And now, Variety has learned that there’s a new Constantine show coming to HBO Max, with a new actor to be cast as a younger version of the supernatural detective.
Clearly there’s something about this guy that has people coming back for more. (Did we mention that Constantine is part of The Sandman, which is getting an adaptation on Netflix? So he’ll probably turn up there too.) And WarnerMedia likely has grand plans for him. Per Variety, a Constantine show will likely feed into Justice League Dark, an HBO Max show about a team of spooky superheroes like Swamp Thing, Madame Xanadu, Deadman and Doctor Mist. Think of how Netflix had all those Marvel shows — Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, etc — that eventually fed into The Defenders and you’ll get an idea of what WarnerMedia is going for.
It’s all part of a bigger strategy to build out HBO Max’s content library. We also have a show about the Gotham City police department coming up, which will tie into Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman movie, as well as James Gunn’s Peacemaker, a spin-off of his The Suicide Squad movie.
HBO Max is coming for Marvel’s lunch. Whether they’ll actually succeed in eating it, we’ll find out.
HBO max readies lots of animated shows for kids
But DC superheroes are only one part of the HBO Max puzzle. Another is children’s animation. Per Syfy Wire, Cartoon Network (which is also owned by WarnerMedia and will have all of its offerings available on HBO Max) has picked up a second series of the Gremlins prequel show Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, starring the likes of Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong, James Hong and Matthew Rhys.
There’s also a new series called Jade Armor, which ““centers around the martial arts-loving Lan Jun, an unlikely teenage heroine who must learn the ancient secrets of her family and uncover the unexpected, all while navigating life as a teen.” Then there’s Family Mash-Up, a musical live-action comedy, and Gross Girls, about a pair of middle schoolers.
And there’s more! Teen Titans Go! is getting a spin-off in the form of Teen Titans Go! The Night Begins to Shine, long-running series Ben 10 is getting a trio of 44-minute specials, and shows Infinity Train, Craig and the Creek and Victor and Valentino are all getting renewed, while Amazing World of Gumball is being made into a movie.
We get it, HBO Max, you really want to win the streaming wars. Good luck.
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