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When DC Universe was announced less than a year ago, one of the shows that I was looking forward to the most was Swamp Thing. Seeing a horror series about one of the most underrated DC Comics horror icons helmed by horror guru James Wan is the perfect recipe for making me happy. And we got the first trailer for the show today. And it looks good! Too bad literally every other piece of news that came out surrounding Swamp Thing today was awful.
It’s a bit tricky to figure out exactly what’s happening here, given the rush of information that came out in the span of a few hours, so I’ll try my best to summarize what happened. Earlier today, a local news outlet in North Carolina, where the series is filming, reported that the production was shut down early and that the series would be reduced from having 13 episodes to 10 episodes to compensate, with cast and production crew members learning of this decision late last night. This was only reinforced when actress Virginia Madsen said in a now-deleted tweet “I’m beyond sad. What a terrible decision. We have been cut to the core by those who have never set foot into the Swamp.”
This initial report suggested that there was a significant problem with DC Universe itself, potentially showing signs that the higher-ups at DC were in a panic about the future of the service. Rumors were flying around that DC Universe wasn’t making enough of a profit and, with Disney+ coming out by the end of the year, could spell doom for the streaming service. But then a second report came out a few hours later that DC Universe was fine, but Swamp Thing was still on hiatus for “creative differences”, with no mention of if the show will still have 13 episodes or not.
Only just kidding, cause apparently now everything is fine with Swamp Thing! DC Universe released the first trailer for the show and promised that the show would still be debuting on May 31st! Here’s ol’ Swampy looking all green and gross in a swamp! Satisfied?
So in less than 24 hours, we now know less about the production than we did a day ago. We still have no official confirmation that the series will be 13 episodes or 10, but given the cast’s response, I think it’s safe to assume the worst. DC may say that their streaming service is doing fine, but with the chaos of the past day, I highly doubt that it’s doing as well as they say it is, given how in the span of six months they only released two original shows. Plus now I’m just left to wonder if the trailer was rushed out in order to draw attention away from the reports that came out today. After multiple reports of production troubles are released in the span of hours, it seems like the mother of all coincidences that a trailer appears after a day of nothing but bad publicity to try and assuage fears that all is well.
Trailer looks nice though.
Swamp Thing will stream exclusively on DC Universe starting May 31, 2019.
Swamp Thing and DC Universe Could Have Some Serious Problems [Collider]
