Constantine Actor Matt Ryan Reveals His Thoughts on HBO Max Justice League Dark Series

With Justice League Dark: Apokolips War closing a chapter on Matt Ryan’s years-long run of playing John Constantine in animation, the actor is ready to take on yet another version of the gig if JJ Abrams’s Justice League Dark series for HBO Max. The actor, who was first cast in NBC’s Constantine before moving on first to Arrow and then to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, all while playing the part in a solo animated movie (which was also serialized as a webseries) and two Justice League Dark animated movies, admits that there are things he would like to do with John Constantine, and that he would be jealous if someone else had the chance to do it first.

With the Justice League Dark movie that was in development for director Guillermo del Toro years ago, Ryan told Den of Geek, he wanted a chance to at least meet with the filmmakers about the role. He feels the same way about the new show.

“I’m a theater actor, you know? That’s where I spent most of my life,” Ryan said. “I always say to them, ‘Just get me in the room.’ And then if they don’t want me for the role that’s their choice. But I would be very disappointed if a project like that went ahead without even sitting down and seeing what I could do with the material.”

During our conversation with Ryan recently, he said that he is excited to see what’s next for his character on Legends of Tomorrow, since this season addresses the Newcastle Incident, one of John’s primary motivations from the comics and the Constantine TV show.

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War sees the world’s greatest Super Heroes square off once-and-for-all against the despotic Darkseid – with the fate of all humanity hanging in the balance. The film will feature the largest superhero cast in the history of DC’s animated movies in what is shaping up to be a truly epic crossover.

Matt Ryan (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Constantine), Jerry O’Connell (The Death of Superman, Satanic Panic, Stand by Me) and Taissa Farmiga (The Nun, The Mule, American Horror Story) anchor the cast as Constantine, Superman and Raven, respectively – the triumvirate determined to assemble the forces necessary to lead humanity’s final attack. Alongside that trio are the long-running core of Justice League voices — Jason O’Mara (The Man in the High Castle, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Batman, Rosario Dawson (Briarpatch, Josie and the Pussycats, Sin City) as Wonder Woman, Shemar Moore (S.W.A.T., Criminal Minds) as Cyborg and Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs, Insatiable, Ugly Betty) as The Flash – as well as JL-adjacents Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, The Librarians) and Rainn Wilson (The Office, The Meg) as the voices of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, respectively.

Tony Todd (Candyman, The Flash) is voice of the film’s the key villain, Darkseid. The cast also boasts appearances by Camilla Luddington (Grey’s Anatomy) as Zatanna, Ray Chase (Justice League Dark, Final Fantasy XV video game) as Jason Blood/Etrigan, Roger R. Cross (24, The Strain, Arrow) as John Stewart & Swamp Thing, Liam McIntyre (Spartacus: War of the Damned, The Flash) as Captain Boomerang, Hynden Walch (Teen Titans Go! Vs. Teen Titans) as Harley Quinn, Stuart Allan (Batman vs. Robin, Batman: Bad Blood) as Robin/Damian, Sachie Alessio (Batman: Hush) as Lady Shiva, and John DiMaggio (Futurama, Batman: Under the Red Hood) as King Shark.