In a rather surprising turn of events, DC Universe’s Swamp Thing has been cancelled after just one episode. The rest of Season 1 (which consists of 13 episodes) will continue to air on DC Universe, but then there will be no more.
The news is pretty flabbergasting seeing as the show’s first episode gained a lot of positive feedback from both critics and viewers when it premiered on the DC streaming service on 31 May, earning itself a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
There seems to be several explanations for the cancellation floating around at the minute, one of which was the fact that the show lost the support from executives before it had even aired (via a report from Bloody Disgusting). It is believed that part of that is down to the newness of DC Universe as a streaming service, so the powers that be are understandably sweating over gaining subscribers.
It has also been reported that there were a lot of creative differences between people involved, with some wanting it to be a full-on horror and others wanting it to be more in line with The CW’s weekly procedural format.
There’s also a Twitter thread from John Gholson that goes into detail about some financial issues that went down in North Carolina during the filming of the show:
In the articles about SWAMP THING there still seems to be some confusion as to the “why” of sudden shutdown. The reasons didn’t hit the entertainment trades, BUT…they did hit the news in North Carolina…
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
Here’s a synopsis for the series:
SWAMP THING follows Abby Arcane 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.
The show stars Andy Bean (Power) as Dr Alec Holland, Derek Mears (Friday The 13th) as the Swamp Thing, Crystal Reed (Gotham, Teen Wolf) as Abby Arcane, Virginia Madsen (Candyman) as Maria Sunderland (Channel Zero), Maria Sten as Liz Tremayne, Jeryl Prescott (The Walking Dead) as Madame Xanadu and Jennifer Beals (Flashdance, The L Word) as Sheriff Lucilia Cable.
Swamp Thing will air the rest of Season 1 on DC Universe every Friday. Get all the latest sci-fi news with every issue of SciFiNow.