Swamp Thing received glowing reviews from fans and critics alike and, when the DC Universe series ended (remember when that app was a thing?), fans had high hopes that Alec Holland's story would continue for years to come.
Instead, Swamp Thing was abruptly cancelled. It was reported that the show was too expensive and, when it came time to change locations, it simply wasn't cost-effective to rebuild those elaborate sets for a second season.
As reasons for cancellation go, it sucked.
Talking to Multiverse of Color, Swamp Thing showrunner Mark Verheiden set the record straight on why the plug was pulled so abruptly.
"I think the one thing I'd like to clear up is this idea that somehow the show was wildly over budget. The other one I've heard is that the state of North Carolina had rigged on its tax breaks - neither of those are true at all, and they're an insult to our producers, who did a fantastic job keeping the show on track budget-wise. I just don't like hearing that at all. It never had a chance to really show what it could do because we were canceled the day after the first episode came out so on streaming."
"The short version is I don't really know why things went down the way they did. We never got a particularly expansive answer to that. Sometimes bad things happen, I'm sure there were reasons, it was not a cheap show. Warner Brothers was going through yet another one of its reorganizations, which it seems to do every year and a half now."
"There may have just been a fundamental misunderstanding about the show we were making versus the show they were expecting although there were certainly no secrets about the show we were making. James Wan is not the guy who makes Barbie. He makes horror shows, and Gary Dauberman, he's not crafting Hallmark shows - he's doing Annabel and the Salem's Lot, so they knew what they were buying - I've never been quite sure, and at this point, I don't really care because it's water under the bridge."
With Warner Bros. and the DCEU in a constant state of disarray, it's no secret that many characters were off-limits to TV shows like Swamp Thing. Verheiden confirms John Constantine was a no-go due to Legends of Tomorrow and says the plan was to keep the spotlight on the hero's corner of the DC Universe.
"Quite frankly, we [were] building up to bringing in a new big bad who is sort of the big baddy of the comics. We [were] going to do a story involving Arcane, this very dark presence in the Swamp Thing Universe. Obviously, we didn't get to do that. In terms of Justice League Dark or any of that stuff...we heard the rumors like anybody else, but it had nothing to do with us or me in any way in terms of what we would think of or do."
Swamp Thing won't be revived, but Logan director James Mangold is developing a movie revolving around the character for DC Studios.
That has the chance to explore the ideas and characters this TV show couldn't, but appears to be years away from becoming a reality. Mangold is busy shooting his Bob Dylan biopic and, once he's done with that, is heading into a Galaxy Far, Far Away for Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi.
Check out the full interview with Verheiden in the player below.