As soon as it was here it was gone. DC Universe’s Swamp Thing lasted just one week before it was unceremoniously cancelled.
James Wan and his production company Atomic Monster, the people behind The Conjuring Universe films like Annabelle and The Nun, were given the greenlight on a script-to-series order for Swamp Thing on DC’s brand new digital service. The series combined elements of fantastical horror and superhero heroics based on the DC characters created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson.
DC Universe has been rather quiet about the cancellation. They did announce that the rest of season one’s episodes would still air, there are no current plans for a second season:
The full 10 episode season of Swamp Thing will continue to air on DC Universe with new episodes released weekly. There are no current plans for a Season 2.
We appreciate there are questions as to why,’ but unfortunately we are not in a position to answer at this time.
And now, the good news: DC Universe continues to develop new shows, new seasons, new stories, more availability, and more platforms. We’ve got a lot of exciting plans for our other shows in the works, and look forward to sharing more in the coming months.
“Don’t really know or understand why #Swampthing was cancelled, but I can tell you this — all the cast and crew, and producing/writing team poured their hearts into this. Really proud of everyone’s hard work. Go watch episode 2, and immortalize these 10 episodes. Swampy deserves it,” said Executive Producer James Wan in an social media post.
However, what is even more of a kicker is that there were some pretty big plans for ongoing seasons of the show. In a Business Insider’s piece (which originally ran the report of the show’s initial reasons for being canceled so abruptly) details of what might have been:
One source close to the production told Business Insider that the show had a possible three-season arc, and the feeling on set was that it could have gone past that if it was a hit, with characters spinning off into their own shows. The source used the specific example of a potential Justice League Dark team-up series.
This got us thinking. With the potential of a Justice League Dark team-up series now dead in the water, we ponder what other DC properties might be suited to take Swamp Thing‘s place? This is a big ask considering one of the reason’s the series was canceled was budgetary and tax restraints, but it’s nice to explore other avenues. Assuming DC Universe still intends to stick around with the live-action Titans, the animated Young Justice: Outsiders and the very good Doom Patrol, we present 3 Comics Or Characters We’d Like To See On DC Ultimate. Let’s get started.
3. Lazarus Five
This five-issue miniseries takes place on Earth in the aftermath of an attack from interdimensional beings. Five resurrected humans, called Inquisitors, now must stand between humanity and its utter extinction. This is pretty high-concept stuff but the potential for a live-action series is ample due in part to the comic’s “small event” storytelling. Each of the five resurrected humans are given their “origins” (how they died) which could play as a budget-conscious episode unto itself.
Lazarus Five, which comes from writer Dan Jolley and artist Tony Harris has the same eerie other-worldliness sensibility of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, and dealings in the interdimensional is a territory few shows have explored.
2. Enchantress
It’s time to give this character her dues since she certainly wasn’t afforded any in Suicide Squad. Enchantress made her first appearance back in 1963 in Strange Adventures #187. The character, whose real name is June Moone, has periodically been depicted as an antihero, cursed (or blessed) after stumbling upon a secret chamber where an unknown magical being (later named as Dzamor) empowers her with the ability to manipulate magical energy for any number of effects, from healing and teleportation to directly affecting any non-living objects with her magic. These sorts of abilities and cursed existence could make for a great TV series, though to keep production costs down it might be better suited for animation à la Young Justice.
1. Deadman
First appearing back in 1967 in Strange Adventures #205, Deadman appeared frequently in the 1970s and 1980s as a supporting character in various comics, including Jack Kirby’s Forever People. The character did not get his own series again until 1986, in a four-issue limited series written by Andrew Helfer and drawn by José Luis García-López.
Formerly a circus trapeze artist named Boston Brand, Deadman is…well, a ghost. Brand is murdered during a trapeze performance by the Hook, and his spirit is given the power to possess any living being by a Hindu god named “Rama Kushna,” in order to search for his murderer and obtain justice.
The character has appeared in multiple TV series already but isn’t it about time we got to see Deadman spread his supernatural wings in his own series. Guillermo del Toro has expressed interest in producing a film of the hero, but that’s about as likely as any number of his unproduced projects.
Sources: DC, Warner Bros.
Grizzly Bomb 