With the animated series Constantine: City of Demons, available to stream at CW Seed, and a recurring arc on The CW series Legends of Tomorrow, which will turn into a regular gig, if it’s back for Season 4 (and of course, it will be!), John Constantine (played to perfection by Matt Ryan) isn’t going anywhere. And whether it’s in live-action or animated form, or it has a lighter tone or a dark storyline, the one thing that can always be counted on is that Constantine will be Constantine, with his dry wit, trench coat and cigarettes.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Matt Ryan talked about how he really thought he’d hung the trench coat up for good, when the NBC series Constantine was canceled, how he became a part of the Arrow-verse, what he enjoys about getting to explore the character in animated form, why Constantine is a character that you can drop into any of the shows and he’ll work, as he is, in any genre and tone, what it’s been like to join the cast of Legends, wondering just how he’ll fit into the team, and whether we might get to see Constantine in a costume without his trench coat.

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Image via The CW

Collider: I am so happy to be speaking to you about you again playing John Constantine, since it seemed like there was a time that we weren’t going to see that happen again.

MATT RYAN: Yes, it was four years ago now, when we did the show, and the times are still alive. It’s great!

It seems as though you just can’s seem to quit this character, whether you like it or not, which is great because I can’t imagine anyone else doing it. When the show was canceled, did you think that was it? Did you think you’d be hanging up the trench coat, forever?

RYAN: Yeah, I really did. We waited a while, to see if the show was gonna be picked up, and as always, there’s a long period of time where you can’t do anything, as an actor, because you’re tied to the show and you can’t really seek other work. I had had an offer to do a play on Broadway with Keira Knightley, and they were gracious enough to hold the offer long enough. They were just about to pull the plug and say, “Look, we really need an answer now.” And then, they back with an answer to say that the show was canceled, and I went ahead. But, every cloud has its silver lining. The show was canceled, but then I got to go off and do some wonderful theater. I thought that was it, and it was done.

Then, were you just completely shocked when you realized that there was a possibility that you could come back in the Arrow-verse?

RYAN: I was, yeah. I was shocked. When I found out about Arrow, I was about two weeks away from starting rehearsals on my play, on Broadway. It was a really fast turn-around. I literally had to fly in, dye my hair, and then fly back, dye my hair back to black, and start on rehearsals, the day after. It all happened very fast for me. I know that there was rumors, before that, going around, that they wanted me to come on to Arrow, but I hadn’t heard anything. It was all very fast, but it was all very nice, at the same time, to put the trench coat back on.

When did it go from an appearance on Arrow to then doing an arc on Legends of Tomorrow, and then signing on as a series regular for Season 4?

RYAN: At each corner of this journey, I thought that this was over. After my appearance on Arrow, I thought, “Okay, well, that’s interesting. Let’s just do this episode, and then carry on with the play.” And then, they asked me to do the Justice League Dark animation, to voice that, so that was another surprise. And then, after that, I thought it was dead. And then, they asked me to do the Constantine animated series, and that was a surprise. After that, I thought it was dead. And then, there was the Legends of Tomorrow. It keeps on coming back, in the most wonderful way.

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Image via The CW

So, you’ve signed your own demon pact with this character and it’s just not going to let you go.

RYAN: Yeah, I’ve got John Constantine, hanging over my head. I think he has some unfinished business with me.

What will we get to learn about the character now, in this animated series? What do you get to do with that, that you couldn’t do in live-action?

RYAN: What’s great with an animated series is that you’re able to do a lot more than you can do in live-action, which is amazing. What we see here is that John and Chas have become estranged, but they reunite to save Chas’ daughter. The script was adapted from the graphic novel, Hellblazer: All His Engines, which I had read previously ‘cause I’d read a bunch of the comics, obviously. So, I was really excited to hear that they were adapting that, and I loved the script and thought it was fantastic. What’s great is John interacting with Chas again. We get to explore a little bit of John’s backstory, and we get to see him do some stuff that he couldn’t do in the live-action. It’s a really good opportunity for John in this medium.

Is the experience different for you, bringing the character to life with only your voice and not getting to be in the costume, when you’re doing it for the animated series?

RYAN: There’s a certain physicality to John and, obviously, the famous trench coat he wears, but it is the same DNA of the character. Even though you’re in a booth and it’s just the voice that you’re doing, it still is the same character, for me, and it’s the same DNA of the character. He can just do some pretty cool stuff that I’m not able to do, myself, in the live-action.

We’ve heard that the animated series is gonna be very, very dark. Is that at odds, in any way, with how the character will continue to be on Legends, which is a fairly light show?

RYAN: I was in Episode 10 of Legends, and when I watched the episode, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how dark that was. Legends is a slightly different show to what we were doing on Constantine and the Hellblazer comics, but I think that the DNA of the character is true, across the board, of all these mediums. He works. You could drop him in any of the shows in the Arrow-verse, no matter what kind of genre, and he will stand up to his own.

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Image via The CW

Do you think that we’ll get to see a lighter side of John Constantine, at all, on Legends? Is there even a lighter side of him?

RYAN: One of the things I really love about the character is the fact that he has that wit and that charm. He does have that funny side to him, that’s a witty, dark-humored side to him, and that fits in well, with all of those guys. Whether it’s a lighter side or not, I think that John is always John, no matter what. He carries his demons around with him, so it will be interesting to see how he fits in with the other Legends. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun, as well. One of the great things about doing the live-action show, Constantine, was that there was a lot of fun in that show, juxtaposed with the darkness, as well. I’m sure that we’ll see a bit of both.

What’s in been like for you to jump into that ensemble and get to play with those actors?

RYAN: It was great, man! One of the reasons why I really wanted to do was that they’re such a good group of guys. I really felt that the character fit with them. Working with them just felt right. There’s all these different characters and interesting dynamics that can go on there, but also all those guys, as actors, were great to work with. They were all really welcoming. Obviously, I’d worked with Caity [Lotz], a little bit before, with Arrow. It was a really, really great experience. They were very welcoming and made me feel at home. It was really good fun.

Aside from Sara Lance, which Legend do you think Constantine would get along with the best or find the most useful, and who do you think he’d be the most annoyed with?

RYAN: The interesting thing that I’m looking forward to exploring is to see how he reacts with all of these people and what that dynamic is and how he fits into that group, or what kind of problems he causes. John always causes problems, wherever he goes. So, I’m looking forward to exploring all of those dynamics.

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Image via The CW

Before you signed on to possibly be a series regular, if Season 4 happens, which I’m sure it will, how much did they clue you in on what the arc might be for him? Do you know anything about where his story will go?

RYAN: I’m actually gonna be in the season finale, and that will give us a little clue as to where we’re going to go with it next season. But, as of yet, I don’t know the whole storyline. I’m interested to hear. We will actually give a little hint, in the final episode of the show, so I think people should tune in to watch that.

What’s most surprised you, as far as what you’ve learned about him, since going off of your own show, and you’ve done this animated series and he’s made these appearances in the Arrow-verse. Do you feel like you’ve learned something new about him since the original series ended?

RYAN: What’s interesting is that, whatever situation he’s in, I’m fascinated by how he interacts with different people around him. The writers really did a good job on Legends, of writing him and his wit and his cadence. In terms of learning something new, I’ve just started diving back into the Hellblazer comics. I stopped, after the show was canceled because, obviously, I was a little disappointed. I’ve just started delving into those comics, but I’m sure I’m gonna learn a lot more about him, and the audience will learn some more about him, as well, when we see him interact with his new team.

Because you do get breaks in between when you have to go back to him and play him again, does it feel like you have to get back into the character, every time, or is this a character that’s always just under the surface for you?

RYAN: It’s a funny one. When I did Arrow, it took me about a couple of takes to find him again. Each time I put him to bed, and then had to wake him up again, I literally looked at a comic book and tried to get the physicality from the panels to get into him. The hardest one was going to Legends of Tomorrow, for the first time, ‘cause I had just finished doing a play in London, where I was playing a Yorkshire man in pre-industrial England, which was a little bit different. The accent was very thick. I was doing a very thick Yorkshire accent, but it wasn’t so dissimilar to the voice that I do with John, so at first, when I started to rehearse my lines, I was doing it in a really thick Yorkshire accent ‘cause I had just finished this play. I was like, “That’s not John! I’ve gotta get back to this!” So, I had to go back to the series and watch the show again, and then jump back into the comics. After about a week of doing my research and doing my work, he came back. He’s always in there somewhere, I think, because I’ve played him so much now, but that was the time I had to really think about it and go, “Okay, what did I do? What was I doing, when we were doing the show?” I had to come back to him from a very different angle, but get back to the same place.

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Image via The CW

Is there a time period that you, personally, would like to see John Constantine dropped into, to see how he would deal with it?

RYAN: I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that. I will be thinking about it, over the coming months, as we’re gearing up.

It seems like he might have some interesting reactions, in just about any time period.

RYAN: Yeah. Also, what will be interesting is to see if he carries on wearing the trench coat, in a different time zone.

It would be interesting to see if anyone could get him out of that and into some period clothes.

RYAN: I think they might struggle, but we’ll see.

Constantine: City of Demons is available to stream at CW Seed.

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Image via The CW
constantine-legends-of-tomorrow-matt-ryan-interview
Image via The CW