Todd McFarlane Confirms “King Spawn” Is Working Title, Not Adapting That Comic (Exclusive)

The Spawn movie continues to move slowly towards becoming a reality, but the project did take a welcome step forward with the real of a new title. The in-development project is now titled King Spawn, and ComicBook’s Chris Killian had the chance to ask Spawn creator Todd McFarlane about that new Title and what it means for the project ahead of San Diego Comic-Con. McFarlane revealed that it the name isn’t set in stone at the moment and is just a working Title, and he also confirmed that the film is not based on the comic series of the same name. McFarlane stated that the title does work well to set the project apart from anything that came before it, so there is a chance the film is ultimately titled King Spawn or something similar when it finally releases in theaters.

King Spawn

When asked if the series was based on the King Spawn comic series, McFarlane said it wasn’t, and then revealed that it is just more than likely a working title. “It’s probably just a working title. I think it’s cool. It’s strong. The thing is, is that it was a way for us to say that we’re not just gonna emulate the past and he felt by just calling it Spawn plain old Spawn that it would sort of go, oh, this is just a reboot and, and repeat. So I don’t know if that would be the final title or whatever. You have to clear things and let go and all those other things. But it was just a way to separate it, to just at least for us internally just to say, hey, this is our version that is different from the one decades ago,” McFarlane said.

The Comic Series

King Spawn debuted in May of 2022 and focused on a prophecy that had Spawn ascending the throne of hell and becoming King Spawn. He would ultimately assume control of the Court of Priests and return to New York, but it didn’t take long for Spawn to realize that he was being played and that his city was in danger. King Spawn is still running and will soon collect its fifth volume in September, and you can find the official description for King Spawn Vol. 1 below.

“When one of the vilest creatures ever imprisoned in Hell is released back onto Earth, Spawn follows the clues right into a trap set just for him. But why does Kincaid want Spawn to ascend the throne of Hell, and what of the prophecy of the KING SPAWN?”

The Script

As for the film, McFarlane recently revealed that he’s never felt more confident about making this Spawn film a reality. In a previous interview with ComicBook, McFarlane spoke of the current status of the script, and he couldn’t be more excited about what Scott Silver has come up with. McFarlane’s also excited about what they have planned for the film’s ending and what it means for the future.

“There’s a script but the writers are, they’re not quite sort of satisfied with their own work, which is what all of us creative people are,” McFarlane said. “We put it on paper and then we criticize ourselves. So they’re going through sort of an extensive sort of rework and rewrite of it. I was just on the phone a couple of days ago with Scott Silver, the guy who’s sort of manning the lead of it right now. He’s also the writer of Joker and Joker 2. We’re all planning and hoping and moving towards having this done so that we can take it out so that we can find our studio finally pre-Joker 2 launch, which comes in October.”

“I wish everybody could hear the conversation because he is so impassioned about what he’s talking about. He is so engrossed in what he’s doing…It’s not like he’s just like, I’m just trying to get it done. It’s just not a good guy versus bad guy story… He said the other day, ‘I’d rather take a swing and it be too big of a swing then to not take a hard enough swing at it….He’s kind of fearless and he doesn’t want to replicate what he knows is sort of the safe, probably predictable path that most people would go because it’s the proven path, right? Just wants to bend it. He wants it because we’re gonna do R-rated and we’re gonna do it and it can’t be mini-Marvel and mini-DC. It can’t.”

Are you excited for the new Spawn film? You can talk all things comics with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!