DC Universe's 'Swamp Thing' Will Focus on Gothic Horror & Romance Aspects

DC Universe's original content has already taken some beloved characters into new directions, and it sounds like that will continue in a pretty major way with Swamp Thing.

In a recent interview with CBR, Swamp Thing executive producer James Wan was asked about the upcoming live-action series, which is set to premiere on DC Universe later this year. While previous live-action iterations of the character fell a bit more on the campy side, Wan hinted that this new telling will follow the character's early comic book roots.

"We want to lean more into the Gothic horror/romance aspect of it," Wan explained.

Swamp Thing will follow Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana but soon discovers that the swamp holds mystical and terrifying secrets. When unexplainable and chilling horrors emerge from the murky marsh, no one is safe, especially Alec Holland (Andy Bean), who transforms into the Swamp Thing creature (Derek Mears). The series is expected to draw inspiration from Alan Moore's iconic run, particularly the "Anatomy Lesson" issue.

"It's a human story," Wan added. "Basically, it's Beauty and the Beast. It's about this guy struggling to find his humanity as he's transforming and becoming more and more of a monster."

Wan, who recently brought Aquaman to the big screen in a pretty successful way, also addressed what drew him to the two different DC properties.

"[Like Aquaman, Swamp Thing is] another piece of property where I think the source material is amazing, with lots of really fascinating characters."

The cast of Swamp Thing will also include Kevin Durand as Floronic Man, Henderson Wade as Matt Cable, Maria Sten as Liz Tremayne, Jeryl Prescott as Madame Xanadu, Ian Ziering as Blue Devil, Will Patton as General Sunderland, and Virginia Madsen as Maria Sunderland.

"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," co-showrunner Gary Dauberman explained in a recent interview. "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."

Are you excited to see Wan help bring Swamp Thing to the small screen? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Swamp Thing is poised to be released sometime in 2019 on DC Universe.