Todd McFarlane's Spawn movie has been in the works for what's starting to feel like a very long time, and the comic book writer and artist frequently promises news is coming. The pandemic appeared to have caused the project to stall for a while, but with Spider-Man: No Way Home star Jamie Foxx still attached to play the title character, it feels like it could happen...eventually.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes certainly haven't helped matters, of course, but with writers now able to get back to work, Scott Silver (Joker), Malcolm Spellman (The Falcon and The Winter Soldier), and Matthew Mixon's (Yesterday Was Everything) screenplay could begin taking shape.
As of now, though, it doesn't sound quite as far along as we'd hoped!
"The writers have been thinking about it a lot, hopefully, because they're not able to do the writing," McFarlane tells IGN. "So all they can do is think about it so that as soon as the strike's over, they can quickly finish the script. I’ve seen up to page 80 of the present script, so they're near the finish line. I think they'll get it done fairly quickly and then we'll do some rewrites and we'll be in Hollywood."
Blumhouse's Jason Blum previously said he was hoping Spawn will be released in 2025, though it's hard to say how likely that is. Foxx and Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner are still attached to star, though both men have faced serious health issues lately which could change things.
The former was recently hospitalised with an undisclosed "medical complication," while Renner nearly died in a snowplow accident back in January.
McFarlane would go on to say he's been in touch with Spawn's lead and it sounds like he remains keen to suit up. "Yeah, it’s just checking in as a friend, not trying to have any big discussions about a movie or anything, just checking to see how his health is. Jamie says he's on the mend and it was a pretty deep hole he went into and he is climbing back out, but he's confident he's going to be ready to go."
"I have full faith that he's just a very strong-willed person and he's going to get back to the top of his game."
Spawn remains the most successful independent comic book ever published and the character previously starred in a 1997 movie starring Michael Jai White and John Leguizamo. However, it was a critical and commercial disappointment.
Are you excited about McFarlane's Spawn movie?