You can’t have Sherlock with Moriarty, or Superman without Lex Luthor… inevitably, those arch-enemies come into play. For John Constantine, in the Hellblazer comic books, one of his great foes was the immortal Papa Midnite, who comes to the TV series Constantine with the third episode, which airs at 10PM (ET/PT) tonight (November 7) on NBC.

Constantine - Season 1Michael James Shaw plays Papa Midnite on TV, and we spoke to him about what it’s like to bring the character to life, starting with the inevitable question: Will we see all of the aspects an abilities of Papa Midnite from his first appearance?

“You don’t get to see every aspect of him in his first episode,” Shaw teases, though he promises some “kick-ass action” from our first encounter with the character. What brings Papa Midnite to the show? “Let’s say that him and Constantine are battling for a very important objects,” Shaw says.

In the comics, John Constantine and Papa Midnite were often at odds, only uniting when necessary. Shaw tells us that on TV, we’ll see that same dynamic. “They’re definitely enemies, but always in life, when you really need something, you manipulate things a certain way to get what you want, or vice versa. Or, there may be something bigger that you have to fight together,” he says. “There are a lot of different ways that you could end up interacting with someone you hate, but it’s all for personal gain or something bigger than yourselves. It’s unfortunate that happens sometimes, but sometimes you’ve got to do it, you know?”

Shaw was not aware of Papa Midnite’s prominence in the Constantine mythology when auditioning, but upon getting the role, he read up on the character quite a bit. The Constantine version of Papa Midnite has shoes and jewelry that helped Shaw get into the Papa Midnite character, and the character in himself has quite a sense of style, merging what we’ve seen in the comics. “He’s pretty dapper, actually, with a very Earthy edge to him. I feel like in a way, his style is a compilation of the many versions you’ve seen of him in the comic book. But it definitely is more modern; not so much a pimp or a shaman in a grass skirt. The updated version of those two compilations,” he explains.

Being part of a project like Constantine is “unbelievable” for Mr. Shaw, as is the fan base. “It’s unbelievable,” he says. “It’s like a community of avid readers and fans of the story that I didn’t know existed. I read comic books as a kid, and I’m familiar with a lot of Image books and whatnot, but I had no idea this book existed, and I’m so happy to be a part of that world now.”

What’s next for Papa Midnite? Shaw won’t say, but we do see that the November 14 is an adaptation of the “Hunger Demon” story that introduced the character. Could we see him next week? Tune in to see. But first, catch a new Constantine at 10PM on NBC. Promotional images from tonight’s show, “The Devil’s Vinyl,” can be found here.

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KSiteTV Editor-In-Chief Craig Byrne has been writing about TV on the internet since 1995. He is also the author of several published books, including Smallville: The Visual Guide and the show's Official Companions for Seasons 4-7.

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