‘Legends of Tomorrow’: Matt Ryan on Discovering Constantine’s Relationships With the Team

Legends of Tomorrow will be just the latest television outing for Matt Ryan‘s John Constantine, and it sounds like that will bring about some entirely new challenges.

ComicBook.com got a chance to speak to Ryan during last month’s San Diego Comic-Con, where he spoke about what fans can expect from Constantine in Legends‘ fourth season. As he explained, Constantine being on the series in a larger capacity will create an opportunity to figure out how he interacts with his new teammates, something that isn’t easily forecast in the pages of DC Comics.

“What’s great is — all the comic books I’ve read, there’s all these different relationships.” Ryan revealed in our interview, which you can check out below. “Which, unfortunately, we didn’t get to explore in the show. But they’re all kind of relationships in which you can pick up a comic and kind of glean from them how they would interact. What’s great about John in this situation is it’s a bunch of characters where we don’t know how they’d interact. So that’s being discovered and created. So that’s a new, kind of wonderful, angle and dynamic for me as an actor playing John. Kind of discovering those things in the moment.”

“Wherever John goes, there’s conflict.” Ryan added. “He brings his bag of tricks, but he also brings his emotional baggage with him. And he’s someone who, as we know, will sacrifice his best friend for the greater good. So he has his own motives and his own goals. So to bring him into this world, it’s like ‘What happens?’ And that’s the most interesting thing about doing this character in this context.”

Apparently, that new context has also lent itself to some interesting things behind-the-scenes, as Ryan has tried to separate himself from the trenchcoat-wearing demonologist he plays onscreen.

“Coming onto the set with all of these guys, and playing with that, has just been the most welcoming [experience].” Ryan told ComicBook.com in another interview. “John is a brash character, he takes up space as soon as he walks in the room, you know? He’s an arrogant, self-centered, cynical magician. And me as a person, I think I’m completely different. And you know, you walk on to set and you kind of show your bravado, like ‘Sorry, guys! I’m not really like that! You know, I have to be a bit of an a-hole.’ And they’ve just made me feel so welcome.”

Are you excited to see Constantine have a larger role in Legends of Tomorrow‘s fourth season? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The season four premiere of Legends of Tomorrow, which is titled “The Virgin Gary”, will debut on Monday, October 22nd, at 9/8c on The CW.