Legends of Tomorrow star explains why Constantine is being written off show

At Comic-Con last weekend, it was confirmed that Matt Ryan will no longer be playing Constantine in DC's Legends of Tomorrow's seventh season.

But the actor isn't leaving the show, instead he will reappear in the new role of Dr Gwyn Davies, who is described as an "eccentric scientist from the early 20^th century who might be the team's only hope".

Speaking about the character change at Comic-Con, Ryan said: "I'm really excited to be creating this new role on the show and having some fun with it – discovering how this new character fits in and causes some trouble for the Legends."

Now, in an interview with TV Line, Ryan has explained why Constantine was written off the show and when he first spoke with producers about the character change.

"When it first came about, it just felt like it was right for John to leave Legends," he said. "John Constantine is someone who always walks alone, even though in the comics, he becomes the leader of the Justice League Dark and he pops up in various different comics.

"Ultimately, he's a loner with his guilt and torment that walks this earth alone. There was only so much that we could ever do with him on Legends. It almost felt like we were on borrowed time at some point, because you don't want to push a character like this too far into a show and take him away from his roots too much.

"So it felt right, to be honest with you, that this was the right time for him to leave the show, and for me to move on to something else and find a new challenge as well."

Ryan went on to say that when he was offered the opportunity to come back as a completely different character, he "couldn't say no".

"I was so excited about engaging with this show and the style of this show in a way that I couldn't with John, because there was a part of me that was always trying to keep John in line with the DNA of his character that was originally from the Hellblazer comics," he added.

"The wonderful thing about me coming back onto this show with Davis is there's a mystery there, which we don't quite have with John, because everybody knows him so well. And also, in terms of the style of the show, I wouldn't want to use the word 'shackled' because I didn't feel shackled by John.

"I absolutely adore the character, and he taught me so much, but I felt that I had an obligation to him and the fans of the original Hellblazer to at least try, within the context of the show, to be somewhat true [to the comics character]."

The announcement of Ryan's character change follows Legends of Tomorrow bringing back Zari (Tala Ashe) in a major season 6 twist.

It also follows the show confirming 90210 actor AnnaLynne McCord will appear as a guest star this season.

Legends of Tomorrow airs on The CW in the US. It airs on Sky One and NOW in the UK.

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Stephanie Chase

Reporter, Digital Spy 

Stephanie is a writer who specialises in pro wrestling, covering everything from AEW and WWE to NJPW. 

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she went on to study journalism at Birbeck University. 

Outside of her journalism work Stephanie is also a YouTube content creator focusing on AEW and interviewing talent from AEW, WWE, and across the indie wrestling scene. She has also worked for Revolution Pro Wrestling as a backstage interviewer and commentator.

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