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Posted July 14, 2014 by Yuri Mangahas in Movies/TV
 
 

CONSTANTINE Series Producer Casts Zed, Teases The Spectre!

Days after reports of Lucy Griffiths’ depature from Constantine broke out, NBC has apparently found a replacement for the supposed female lead, in the form of Telenovela actress Angelica Calaya as the psychic/occult mistress, Zed.

The announcement was made last Sunday during a Television Critics Association panel, where Deadline reported that series producer Daniel Cerone described the character as a perfect foil for the con-artist Constantine. “Zed is intuitive, she can detect b*******,” he said.

While Lucy Griffith’s character Liv was created for the television series, Zed has a long past with the trenchcoat-wearing supernatural investigator, one that dates back more than 25 years. Introduced in Hellblazer #4, Zed (aka Mary Martin) is a psychic who helped Constantine find his missing niece; they quickly become romantically involved.

Executive Producer David S. Goyer said there’s no need to reshoot the pilot following Griffiths’ departure, as “characters drop around him like flies,” and having Liv leave is “kind of consistent with the character.”

Zed certainly won’t be the last of the source material’s numerous occult characters to make her way into the series. “The intention is that we have DC’s occult universe open to us,” said Goyer, “and the fact that we had Doctor Fate’s helmet in the pilot is an indication that we’re going to be doing that. We’re introducing another character from the DC universe within the first eight or nine episodes as well.

Cerone also reveals that the fifth episode will involve a police officer who realizes the existence of a supernatural evil looming in our world, which might allow producers to introduce an Easter Egg for the fans — one that most of us are familiar with. “Right there, OK, that’s an opportunity to introduce a DC character. So we talked to our DC representatives and we’re like what if we make this character Jim Corrigan, who goes on to become The Spectre.”

“So it’s a perfect opportunity for us, because we can name this character Jim Corrigan and within our story, for the general viewer, that works, because now Constantine has a friend on the force. For the comic book fan, ‘My God, that’s Jim Corrigan!’ And we can get back to that character and can slowly develop that character and who knows, maybe there’s an opportunity in the future to even see the origin story unfold within the framework of our TV series,” added Cerone, implying the possibility of including the Angel of Vengeance to the show.

Constantine premieres Oct. 24, on NBC.


Yuri Mangahas

 
Yuri is magnanimously juggling between two managerial jobs: A technical manager position for an advertising/copy-writing company, and an associate editorial position for a fashion and lifestyle magazine. Nevertheless, he still finds time taking photos and seeking for geek nirvana.