CONSTANTINE, FLASH And iZOMBIE All Get Picked UP

There’s a limited number of prime time TV hours and this coming season, a surprising amount of them are going to be taken up by shows based on DC comics. Word came down yesterday that all three DC-based series in active development* have been picked up for fall premieres.

The CW is going forward with Arrow spin-off The Flash, as well as Rob Thomas’ iZombie, based (very loosely) on Chris Roberson and Mike Allred’s Vertigo book of the same name. Here’s how the network describes The Flash:

Barry Allen is a Central City assistant police forensics investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past. A comic book fanboy, Barry is obsessed with the Arrow unaware that working with Oliver and Felicity to solve the crime has brought him right into the dangerous world of the vigilante.
CAST: Grant Gustin, Jesse L. Martin, Rick Cosnett, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanaugh, John Wesley Shipp, Michelle Harrison, Patrick Sabongui
TEAM: Greg Berlanti (w, ep), Andrew Kreisberg (w, ep), Geoff Johns (w), David Nutter (d, ep), Sarah Schechter (ep)

I think that description might be outdated. It sounds a lot like the episode of Arrow Barry showed up it. Weird.

iZombie suffers the most changes of any adaptation in quite some time. Showrunner Rob Thomas jettisoned almost everything but the title and the most basic of concepts, but he did bring us Veronica Mars and Party Down so he’s earned a fair amount of trust. I do hope the show keeps some of the comic’s weirder aspects.

A med student-turned-zombie takes a job in the coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity, but with each brain she consumes, she inherits the corpse’s memories. With the help of her medical examiner boss and a police detective, she solves homicide cases in order to quiet the disturbing voices in her head.
CAST: Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Alexandra Krosney, David Anders, Robert Buckley, Nora Dunn, Ruhul Kohli
TEAM: Rob Thomas (w, ep), Diane Ruggiero (w, ep), Danielle Stokdyk (ep), Dan Etheridge (ep)

Meanwhile, over at NBC, Constantine is going to series.

Based on the wildly popular comic book series “Hellblazer” from DC Comics, seasoned demon hunter and master of the occult John Constantine (Matt Ryan, “Criminal Minds”) specializes in giving hell… hell. Armed with a ferocious knowledge of the dark arts and his wickedly naughty wit, he fights the good fight — or at least he did. With his soul already damned to hell, he’s decided to leave his do-gooder life behind, but when demons target Liv (Lucy Griffiths, “True Blood”), the daughter of one of Constantine’s oldest friends, he’s reluctantly thrust back into the fray – and he’ll do whatever it takes to save her. Before long, it’s revealed that Liv’s “second sight” — an ability to see the worlds behind our world and predict supernatural occurrences — is a threat to a mysterious new evil that’s rising in the shadows. Now it’s not just Liv who needs protection; the angels are starting to get worried too. So, together, Constantine and Liv must use her power and his skills to travel the country, find the demons that threaten our world and send them back where they belong. After that, who knows… maybe there’s hope for him and his soul after all.

While the show is based on the long-running classic Vertigo comic one expects it’ll likely draw from the current New 52 version as well. Presumably this will be better than the fun, but uneven, Keanu Reeves film from 2005.

* – The CW’s Wonder Woman project, Amazon, was never officially cancelled, it was delayed for further development and we haven’t heard anything positive or negative about SyFy’s Booster Gold series in ages.