The Warner Archive — Warner Bros.’s print-on-demand service for DVDs and Blu-rays that may not be big enough to support a wide release in retail stores — will release Constantine on Blu-ray soon, according to advertisements running on the back of this week’s DC Comics.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Since the series went off the air about a year and a half ago, fans have lobbied to have the full show released on DVD or Blu-ray to no avail.
So far, there’s no sign of the show on the Warner Archive Store, but the ad — which says “fantastic TV looks better on Blu-ray — also features The 100, iZombie, and Lucifer. At least The 100 and iZombie‘s Blu-ray relases through the Warner Archive had been previously announced. It also says “Constantine now on Blu-ray & DVD.”
“If that’s true, then the fans made that happen,” said former Constantine showrunner Daniel Cerone, currently an executive producer on Motive and The Blacklist. “I give them all the credit because they’ve made their voices known and never gave up. I’m continually overwhelmed by the passion out there for this character.”
This is hardly the first time somebody has suggested the Warner Archive as a potential home for Constantine…
@DanielVCerone @eclipse1993 @korps At this stage, #Constantine‘s best chance for a DVD release is going to be @WarnerArchive I think.
— Russ Burlingame (@russburlingame) August 21, 2016
…and recently, Cerone told fans that the studio had hired new musicians to come in and replace some of the expensive tracks that had been used in the show’s soundtrack — a move often made to make a home-video release more cost-effective. Shows can sometimes be held up by music rights issues — such as the popular sitcom Malcolm In the Middle, which suffers from having had a falling out with They Might Be Giants, who provided the show’s theme and some other music.
Constantine was cancelled after one season at NBC, with good reviews and a die-hard fanbase not being able to save it from middling ratings and a huge budget. There were attempts to find it a home on other networks — most notably on The CW, where series star Matt Ryan guest-starred on Arrow last season as John Constantine — but they failed and ultimately cast and crew contracts lapsed.
The show then went to el Rey for a while, and while it was exclusive there it wasn’t available for purchase digitally, which drove fans to get even more eager about the possibility of a DVD or Blu-ray release, launching a petition and social media campaign.
The fans have been somewhat quieter since the show arrived on the free-to-stream service CW Seed, which briefly gave some hope that the character might return in some form on The CW. It’s since been made available digitally again for purchase.
There’s no official word on when the Blu-ray will be available for order online, and Warner Archive had no comment on the release yet.
