‘Swamp Thing’ Suffers Premature Cancellation After First Season

Alec Hollands ethereal alter ego, Swamp Thing, will have to remain back in the Louisiana swamps for now as DC’s digital service, DC Universe, announces that the show has just been canceled. The finale date has also been set for August 2.

Nearly a week after the first episode premiered amidst rave reviews, Swamp Thing did not get the right kind of attention from Warner Bros.’ higher-ups. According to Deadline, the DC Universe is being re-evaluated after the Time Warner and AT&T merger in 2016. WarnerMedia is reportedly looking to put up its own online streaming platform, something that puts DC Universe in the way of those plans or a hindrance at the most.

Swamp Thing’s Tonal Issues

However, Geeks Worldwide reports that despite the gritty and horrific tone that Swamp Thing currently exudes (something that was met positively by fans and critics), Warner and AT&T executives are reportedly not happy with the show’s trajectory. One source also claims that the executives wanted the show to have a tone that parallels that of The CW’s Arrowverse. The show does feature a terrifying protagonist, allowing the producers to take on a more horror-oriented theme to the classic DC Vertigo Comics property.

The news comes as no surprise as the early pangs of cancellation were first brought up when Swamp Thing‘s previous 13-episode count was trimmed down to just 10. The series is the first DC Universe show to get the ax from Warner Bros.

Swamp Thing is written by Mark Verheiden and Anabelle: Creation‘s Gary Dauberman, with Aquaman‘s James Wan part of the executive producing team. It follows the story of CDC researcher and specialist Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she returns to her hometown of Marais, Lousiana to help prevent an epidemic. Once there, Abby meets Alec Holland (Andy Bean), a frustrated scientist who ended up studying the swamp. As they make breakthroughs in figuring out the outbreak’s cause, they find themselves under attack by the strange swamp plant life. The first episode ended with Alec falling into the swamp after being shot by an unknown figure. The swamp then takes over his body and transforms it into the Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing continues Friday, June 7th, with “Worlds Apart” on the DC Universe Streaming Service.