‘Swamp Thing’ TV Series Will Have Adult Edge That Embraces Horror

The cult favorite DC Comics character Swamp Thing is getting a brand new series on the DC Universe streaming platform, with horror master James Wan helping chart the course.

The character has a longstanding history in beyond comics media, having been the focus of two separate films and as well as a TV series that ran for three seasons in the early ’90s. But those programs did not embrace Swamp Thing’s horror roots, something which fans can expect in the new series on DC Universe.

Discussing Film recently caught up with Swamp Thing showrunner Mark Verheiden, revealing some new details about the upcoming series.

“We’re all incredibly excited to be working on this, on this platform which is a new streaming platform that enables us to do shows that have a more adult edge, that can embrace the horror that Swamp Thing has as well as the emotionality,” Verheiden said. “When I get a call and someone says ‘Would you be interested in working on Swamp Thing with James Wan and Gary Dauberman, who wrote IT,’ I am very interested.”

Verheiden was shy to share any new information about the series, though he did say they were excited to bring the character back to screens.

The showrunner said production on the series would begin soon, and that Swamp Thing would begin airing on DC Universe after Doom Patrol, but would still come out in 2019.

As the writer, Dauberman previously stated he wanted to skew as close to the R rating as possible in the new series, much like the new show Titans will do when it premieres in October.

“This is one, when you talked earlier about the rating for The Nun, we always set out to make Swamp Thing as hard R as we could and go graphic with the violence, with the adult themes and make it as scary as possible,” Dauberman told /Film. “Because we’re doing it through the DC streaming service, they really pushed us, although they didn’t have to push hard, for us to go as extreme as we could. We really took our inspiration from the Alan Moore run in Swamp Thing, this landmark I think run. Fans of that series will know it gets pretty weird and extreme and scary. We really wanted to live up to that standard that Moore set up back in the ’80s.”

We’ll find out more about Swamp Thing as we the production gears up to start shooting. The series will debut on DC Universe in 2019.