Derek Mears Reportedly Cast as ‘Swamp Thing’ Creature

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Swamp Thing will be using practical effects for its title character, and now we might know who will be under the suit.

Bloody Disgusting recently confirmed that Derek Mears has been cast as the Swamp Thing monster in the upcoming DC Universe television series. According to their reporting, Mears will be playing the physical embodiment of Swamp Thing, while a different actor is expected to play his human counterpart, Alec Holland.

Mears is known for playing Jason Voorhees in the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th, as well as appearances on Sleepy Hollow and Predators. This marks the actor’s latest comic book role, after playing a Kree Captain on Agents of SHIELD and Sylbert Rundine/Dwarfstar on last season of The Flash.

The cast of Swamp Thing also includes Gotham‘s Crystal Reed as Abby Arcane, and Straight Outta Compton‘s Maria Sten as Liz Tremayne. The series is expected to be a very dark take on the character’s DC Comics lore, drawing inspiration from Alan Moore’s iconic run.

“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,” writer 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.”

“Then of course it allows us, Swamp Thing himself looks incredible what Justin Raleigh and the guys over at Fractured are doing with the suit,” Dauberman continued. “So it’s going to look amazing and less of the ‘man in suit’ that you’ve seen in the movie and the other TV show.”

Swamp Thing was first given a script-to-series order in May of this year, to the delight of DC Comics and horror fans alike. The project will be co-written by Mark Verheiden (Daredevil, Battlestar Galactica) and Gary Dauberman (It), who will serve as showrunners. The pilot will be directed by Underworld director Len Wiseman. Aquaman director James Wan is set to executive produce, alongside Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear, with Atomic Monster’s Rob Hackett set to co-produce.

What do you think of Mears joining the cast of Swamp Thing? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

DC Universe will launch on Batman Day, September 15th. The service’s original programming will debut with the release of Titans, which will premiere on October 12th.