Legends of Tomorrow fans were left saddened and perplexed earlier this week when Matt Ryan announced that he’d no longer be playing John Constantine on the show. For many, Ryan is Constantine, having made the character his own in the unjustly cancelled 2014 solo show, going on to appear in Arrow, and become a series regular on Legends of Tomorrow.
The news dropped during the series’ Comic-Con@Home online presentation, though Ryan underlined for fans that he’s not leaving the series and will play a new character: Dr. Gwyn Davies. He’s set to play a major role in the seventh season and appears to be a 20th-century scientist who the team will come to rely upon. But Ryan knows how much fans love him as Constantine, and ended with a message for them:
“As everyone who loves him knows, in the end, John Constantine will walk his path alone. The time has come for John to part ways with the Legends, and for me to part ways with John. I’m really excited to be creating this new role on the show and having some fun with it — discovering how this new character fits in and causes some trouble for the Legends.”
There’s a chance that Constantine could be leaving Legends of Tomorrow because of Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. All indications are that the debut season will adapt the first collected arc ‘Preludes and Nocturnes’, in which Constantine plays a key role. The twist is that this John will be Johanna, with Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman playing a gender-swapped take on the cynical occult detective.
Even so, if that’s the case it seems unlikely audiences would get confused between these two very different versions, so it’s possible that Ryan thinks Constantine’s story has reached a natural conclusion. However, I also wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Gwyn Davies proves to have some dark magic secrets of his own.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is currently partway through its sixth season, which is airing on Sunday at 8/7c on The CW. Season 7 will premiere on October 13, 2021.
Published: Jul 28, 2021 12:35 pm