Constantine Adds Michael James Shaw As Papa Midnite
By Steve Lam
NBC is probably looking to cast a little voodoo over Constantine fans this fall. Via USA Today, Michael James Shaw has been confirmed to be in a recurring guest role as Papa Midnite, voodoo king of New Orleans. The character will be an adversary to Matt Ryan’s Constantine when October rolls around.
Michael James Shaw is a relative newcomer to television. So far, his only television role has been an uncredited appearance as a homeless man in The Wire. Aside from acting, Shaw is also a writer and has appeared in multiple shorts.
In the Hellblazer series, Papa Midnite is a voodoo priest and organized crime boss. His relationship with Constantine can be complicated at times — he’s been both an adversary and an ally. Papa Midnite made his first appearance in Hellblazer #1. Midnite was born in the 1700s and had a twin sister, Luna. Growing up, their mother mentored them in the art of magic. Later, the three settled in New York and took over the property of a white landlord, who they rendered catatonic and used as a puppet. They turned the landlord’s home into a base of operations for selling guns. Soon, Midnite ran into a slave named Cuffee — a man who was dedicated to overthrowing white dominance in New York. Cuffee paid Midnite to make a magic powder that would deflect bullets, but the powder would soon prove to be useless. The result was Cuffee’s destroyed rebellion and hundreds of dead slaves. Bent on revenge, Cuffee made Midnite decapitate Luna, and then cursed Midnight with immortality — as long as white men dominated over black men in America, Midnite would not die.
Soon after, Midnite would ally himself with the African trickster god Anansi. They formed a plan that allowed for a new rebellion involving Fortune, Cuffee’s son. Fortune soon discovers that the plan was designed to fail. To prevent Fortune from divulging this information to other people, Midnite asked Anansi to kill Fortune. But Anansi, being a trickster god for a reason, turns on Midnite and had him burned at the stake. Midnite lives through the torturous ordeal though, and Fortune ships Midnite off to the West Indies where he becomes a slave.
Midnite continued to practice and hone his magic skills. He also uses Luna’s skull to communicate with the dead. After a while, Midnite started to collect the skulls of other people’s sisters. In one instance, he made a brother, Linton, sever the head of his sister, Cedilla. Midnite then marked her soul, so that she would be sent to hell. Using Cedilla’s skull, he would collect information about the underworld.
Midnite would later meet John Constantine during a business deal involving The Ace of Winchesters, of which Constantine would eventually steal. Throughout the years, Midnite sometimes allied himself with Constantine in trapping demons or became Constantine’s adversary for the purposes of revenge.
Papa Midnite’s biography is as dark and as twisted as you can get. I would think that Constantine’s smoking habit would be the least of NBC’s worries. It’ll be interesting to see how they can stay faithful to Midnite’s character history and meet primetime ratings guidelines. Let the “viewer discretion is advised” messages fly.
NBC will premiere Constantine on Friday October 24, 2014 at 10:00PM EST.