Constantine Casts Guardians of the Galaxy’s Emmett Scanlan as Jim “The Spectre” Corrigan

The actor in question will be Emmett Scanlan, who becomes the latest actor to toggle back and forth from the Marvel to DC Universes, as he was last seen in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, in which he played the head riot guard.

Created by Jerry Siegel and Billy Baily, The Spectre first appeared in 1940. After his murder, Corrigan returned from the dead to act as the human host for The Spectre, an avenging spirit working for “The Voice,” a force which depending on which version of the character’s history you read may be the Christian God (that’s certainly how he was played in Kingdom Come, arguably his greatest recent story).

“Right now, episode five is off on outline. Within the context of episode five, we had a need for a police officer who sees that supernatural evils exist. Right there, okay, that’s an opportunity to introduce a DC character,” Executive Producer Daniel Cerone said back in July. “So we talked to our DC representatives and we’re like what if we make this character Jim Corrigan, who goes on the become The Spectre. For those who don’t know, Jim Corrigan is a police officer who kind of takes the law into his own hands… he ends up dying and is reincarnated as 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. It creates opportunities and creatively you just have to go in and lay that groundwork in and try and let it unfold naturally. So we’re in the midst of approvals on that, but that’s one idea we’re exploring right now.”

Over the years, a number of top talents have taken their shot at The Spectre, including Justice League icon and frequent Hollywood screenwriter J.M. DeMatteis. DC’s Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns, made a name for himself in part by writing the event miniseries (Day of Judgment) which saw Corrigan replaced in the role, and until the launch of the New 52, the character had been in a state of constant flux for years, with a new host every five years or so.

IGN, who broke the casting news, described his character as follows:

On Constantine, Corrigan will be a homicide detective in New Orleans who is plunged into Constantine’s world of occult horrors. Furthermore, Corrigan is someone who is obsessed with justice, and who doesn’t let police procedure or red tape stop him from putting away the bad guys, even if the bad guys turn out to be inhuman.

Scanlan himself took to Instagram to document his thoughts just after the news broke. Here’s what he had to say:

I dipped my toes into #Marvel thanks to the faith & generosity of @JamesGunn. Now thanks to #DavidGoyer, #DanielCerone and @Fleafasano I get to bathe my darkened soul into the underworld of #DC… The years are getting on, yet I feel like I’m getting younger. I was reared on comics. This is the Neverland syndrome. I ain’t ever growing up… True f***ing honour. #Constantine #JimCorrigan #Believe

“Jim Corrigan” is also the name of a corrupt Gotham City police officer who, during the Gotham Central run from which FOX’s Gotham will draw generously, murdered fellow officer Crispus Allen, who went on to become The Spectre (at this point, the original Jim Corrigan had finally been allowed to pass on, ceding his role as The Spectre first to Hal Jordan and then to Allen). While Corrigan has not been announced as a character on Gotham, Crispus Allen will appear on the series.

Constantine will premiere on October 24th on NBC.