10 Problems With Constantine That Got It Cancelled

10. Not Letting Him Smoke

A considerable amount of things changed about John Constantine in the translation from page to screen. An early paragon of DC's mature readers Vertigo line, the Hellblazer comic book allowed writers and artists to get away with a lot: the characters smoked, drank, gouged people's eyes out, swore a lot, that sort of thing. So the sort of things that apparently don't translate so well to the small screen, at least if you're a regular network (i.e. not HBO or AMC or something). Despite being the same channel that airs Hannibal on a weekly basis, NBC were apparently cagey about some of the more grown-up affectations comic book Constantine had. Such as, say, smoking. It seems like a small thing, but the Hellblazer's several-packs-a-day habit was a good visual shorthand for his devil-may-care attitude and self-destructive streak, and its effects on his health provided good fodder for storylines in the comics later on. This early lack of commitment to the character's core qualities didn't bode well.