Behind the Scenes of ‘Constantine’ with Charles Halford

Charles Halford Constantine Interview
CONSTANTINE star and “True Detective” alum Charles Halford in the Warner Bros. booth during the show’s signing at Comic-Con 2014. #WBSDCC (© Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.)

Charles Halford takes on the role of Chas Chandler, best friend to John Constantine (played by Matt Ryan), in the new NBC series Constantine debuting on October 24, 2014. Halford says it was a “fantastic coincidence” that they were looking for an actor of his size and that he knew the material.

“I’m 6 and a half feet tall, and it’s rare to get a series regular opportunity, and he’s a tall, brooding guy with a compassionate heart. I knew the source material and my name is Charles and the character’s name is Chas, so it all seemed like we were good to go.”

It’s a good thing Halford was familiar with the comics, as he didn’t have a lot of lead time to get into the character. “It all happened very fast,” explained Halford. “I was familiar with the comics growing up. They were ‘naughty’ comics so I was lucky to get my hands on them when I was a child. I always read them blushing. But as soon as it became a reality and we were shooting the pilot, the first thing I did was get to a comic book store and buy every Hellblazer comic they had in stock and got right to work. If you saw the pilot, I didn’t have that many lines to study so I spent a lot of time reading up on the history.”

Check out what else Charles Halford has to say about being a part of the comic book-inspired series Constantine: