‘Constantine’ season 2: On renewal odds, possible future for Matt Ryan series

Tonight, we are at the end of the road for “Constantine” this season on NBC … and most likely the series as a whole.

At the moment, the network has not tipped their hand one way or the other when it comes to what they want to do for the Matt Ryan series, but we’re admittedly nervous. The show has averaged under a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic in 2015, and while “Hannibal” does not perform a whole lot better, it does have more widespread critical acclaim. We feel like the move to an earlier timeslot was an attempt to find a larger audience for the show, but it has not completely worked out.

Is there a reason to still have hope? We would say that the answer here is a firm “yes.” The show’s numbers, while not great, are not that horrendous for a Friday night comic-book adaptation, especially when you consider that the title character is not the most well-known in the DC library. They are also not really on the decline anymore, so that concern is a little bit washed away. Maybe you can get some streaming traffic over the summer and come back for more. Ryan is a fantastic John Constantine, and over the past several weeks we’ve seen the show come closer to realizing the full potential of the comics.

This may be controversial, but we almost wish the show aired on The CW instead, since they know a thing or two about how to handle both supernatural shows and comic-book adaptations. Also, we feel like it would have drawn similar numbers there and not be in any real danger.

In the event that NBC does opt to cancel the show, we wouldn’t rule out completely a provider like Amazon wanting to give it a shot. Still, our advice for tonight is to try to watch live, and then don’t have huge expectations for the future. That way, there will be an element of surprise if something happens.

We’ll have more on “Constantine” later, but for now sign up to get some further TV scoop via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)