The lead female character in NBC’s Constantine series is being written out before the first episode has even airs.
In most cases this would be an extremely bad sign, but for Constantine it may actually be an improvement. Well, unless you’re Lucy Griffiths, the actress who has just been summarily dropped from the show.
Her character was Liv, a young woman with psychic powers who is forced to team up with John Constantine in the show’s pilot episode. Liv isn’t a character from Hellblazer comics canon, and instead was described by writer David S. Goyer as an “amalgam” of various female characters from the comics—rarely a good sign.
It’s not clear why Constantine and its lead actress decided to part ways, but Liv’s replacement is a classic Hellblazer character named Zed: good news for fans of the original comics. Zed is a pagan sorceress and former girlfriend of John Constantine, who had an important role in several early Hellblazer storylines.
Liv appeared in the pilot episode, which was already filmed and will be shown to fans at San Diego Comic-Con. It’s unclear when the changeover between the two female characters will occur, but THR reports that Zed will appear in an early episode of the series, is scheduled to air this fall.
Photo via NBC