From ‘Buffy’ to ‘Grimm’ – ‘Constantine’ EPs Talks Supernatural TV

There is no shortage of demon hunting taking place in primetime television these days. From Supernatural to Grimm and now NBC’s Constantine, we have to wonder – is there enough room for everyone?

Press recently spoke with Constantine‘s creators and executive producers, Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer, about the differences between the current series airing in the supernatural genre.

“Well, first of all, let me just say that, you know, taking nothing away from those shows, I think what’s fundamentally different about our show versus like “Oh, well, just show people the Supernatural” is the John Constantine character. He’s amazing character,” David S. Goyer explained. “And with all due respect to those shows, he was around a lot long – a lot earlier than they were. And I know there’s, you know, some people have said “Oh, this is the character on Supernatural” that Constantine is like that character was influenced by Constantine, not the other way around. And he’s been around for 25, 30 years. So I think once people see a few more episodes under their belt, particularly the episode that’s going to air tonight, I don’t think – it’s a very, very, very different show than those shows. And I also think there’s room for all of that.”

“I will say this, though, as a storyteller, you can’t pay attention to what other people are doing on similar shows. I think that’s where you get into trouble, frankly, because if it’s in your head, “Oh, they did this creature” or “They did this scare” or “They did this sort of legend or mythology,” Daniel Cerone added. “You know, then you start comparing yourself and, look, we’re just trying to channel the character John Constantine as clearly as we can. I mean, funny, one of the first shows that I came in on as a young writer was “Charmed” and I spent, like, the first four years of my career on “Charmed.” You know, we’re doing this on “Charmed” before they’re doing on “Supernatural.” “Supernatural,” you know, “X-Files” is doing it before us. “Buffy” was in the middle of it all. You know, all you can do is trust your characters, you know. That’s, hopefully, what people are tuned in to every week and, you know, within that framework, we try and tailor, you know, we might do a vampire story or a zombie story. In fact, look, we’re doing – you know, there’s elements of a zombie coming up for us but look at filtered to the world of Papa Midnite. So it’s voodoo zombie. It’s more old school, you know, raise and assault and, you know, bring in, you know, recently-deceased humans back. It’s not the sort of zombie – apocalyptic zombie virus that we’re all accustomed to.”

What do you think? Is there enough room for everyone in this space? Let us know your thoughts in our comments below! And be sure to catch a brand new episode of Constantine tonight on NBC!

Photo Credit: NBC

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