CONSTANTINE Casts Matt Ryan as John Constantine

Well, at least he's from the U.K....

The Hollywood Reporter has word that 33-year-old Welsh actor Matt Ryan has been cast in the lead role of John Constantine for the Constantine pilot for NBC.  Ryan is perhaps best known as Mick Rawson on the series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and as Richard Pace on The Tudors.  He's also appeared in the movie Layer Cake and the Torchwood episode "Meat."

The project was announced last September with John Constantine originally described as "an enigmatic and irreverent conman turned reluctant supernatural detective, who is thrust into the role of defending the human race against dark forces from beyond."

Providing a few more details, this latest article describes Constantine as "a working-class Londoner with deadpan humor who is a mysterious conman and occult detective
haunted by the recent loss of a young girl's soul.  No stranger to the dark underworld that exists parallel to our own, Constantine has been studying the dark arts since he was a teenager.  He's taught himself spells, rituals, curses and conjuring, but the one person he most wishes to see -- his mother, who died giving birth to him -- remains out of reach, at least so far.  When Liv, the daughter of a late friend, is targeted by demons, Constantine steps in to save her and the two form an alliance."

The character of John Constantine first appeared in The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 in 1985 and was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben.  Based physically on the musician Sting, Constantine proved popular enough in 1988 to be spun off into his own VERTIGO series Hellblazer, which ran for an impressive 300 issues until earlier this year.  The replacement series Constantine immediately followed, after Constantine was brought back to the relaunched DC Universe as part of "The New 52" to lead the supernatural team Justice League Dark.

Ryan will be the second actor to portray the character in live action, after Keanu Reeves starred as an Americanized version in the 2005 film Constantine.

Game of Thrones' Neil Marshall will direct the pilot from a script by Dexter's Daniel Cerone.  Batman Begins and Man of Steel screenwriter David Goyer will executive produce.