The fate of John Constantine hangs in the balance as fans of NBC's adaptation of long-running Vertigo horror comic Hellblazer wait to find out if the show will get a second season. Constantine stars Matt Ryan in the title role as a duplicitous hedge magician attempting to redeem himself - after an attempted exorcism ended with an innocent girl's soul being damned to hell.

Now the series itself is waiting for redemption after a first season that was met with a lukewarm critical response and wobbly ratings. Constantine hasn't yet been cancelled but neither has it been renewed - though at one point there were rumors that NBC was considering moving the series to Syfy and renaming it Hellblazer.

We don't yet know what will happen to Constantine yet, but we do know when the decision regarding season two will be made. Showrunner Daniel Cerone has taken to Twitter to explain that the deadline for season two idea pitches has been set for the end of April, and NBC will decide whether or not to renew that show based on the strength of those pitches. This is slightly earlier than Cerone's previous claim that the deadline for pitches would be in May, but (allowing for time to mull over the ideas) NBC will probably still make a final decision in early May.

End of April date has been set to pitch 2nd season ideas to NBC. Then they decide on a Season 2. #Constantine #SaveConstantine #Hellblazers— Daniel Cerone (@DanielVCerone) March 29, 2015

Since Constantine season one concluded there has been a relatively small but heartfelt rally around the hashtag #SaveConstantine, with a petition to renew the series gathering over 24,300 online signatures. The consensus at Screen Rant is that we'd be interested in a second season, but it would need to show a considerable improvement over the first. Similarly, Cerone had better have a strong pitch to bring to NBC, since the pitch for the first season was apparently, "John Constantine bumbles around America solving supernatural crimes while the season arc goes nowhere."

John Constantine and Manny

Ryan himself has said that he'd be interested in exploring the "Family Man" arc from the comics in season two, in which John finds himself entangled with the murderous exploits of a human serial killer. It would be good to see the show spend some time away from the world of demons, angels and monsters, since quite a few of the comic book stories are simply about John dealing with regular people, with a bit of magic thrown in to spice things up.

Another popular story from the comic books - and one that was loosely adapted in the 2005 movie Constantine with Keanu Reeves - is the "Dangerous Habits" arc. That finds John facing a losing battle with lung cancer, thanks to his chain smoking habits. That might be tricky since Constantine was given strict parameters for which smoking-related acts were allowed to be shown on screen (ironically, there were apparently no problems with an episode that showed John being shot up with heroin), but the no-inhalation rules seemed to have been somewhat relaxed by the end of the season. Either way, John is established as a heavy smoker.

#SaveConstantine or #KillConstantine? Let us know in the comments if you're still rooting for this show.

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We'll keep you updated on Constantine season two as more information becomes available.

Source: Daniel Cerone