Marvel and DC lovers aren’t short on spooky season content these days, what with Disney Plus hosting everything from the Halloween episode of WandaVision to Werewolf by Night (in both its monochrome and colorized forms) and the likes of Constantine available on Max. One of the most suitable spooky season must-sees for any superhero lover, however, is sadly exiled from streaming right now, which is only the latest reason why it’s got to be the most unfairly cursed TV show in comic book history.
Remember DC Universe? The short-lived DC-only streaming service turned out to be more hassle than it was worth for Warner Bros., so it died a swift death back in 2019, with its onslaught of originals series — e.g. Titans, Harley Quinn, and Doom Patrol — simply being shifted over to Max. Unfortunately, Swamp Thing did not survive the transition, as the James Wan-produced horror series was announced to be cancelled at the cruelest time — after just one episode of its single 10-part season had aired.
You can’t expect people to tune in once they’ve already been told a show’s going nowhere, so naturally this prevented Swamp Thing from being a smash. And yet those of us who stuck with the series know it to be a vastly underrated entry in the DC multiverse, which makes it all the more disheartening that new viewers can’t discover its charms for themselves after its untimely demise. Although Swamp Thing was once on both Max and CW Seed, it was removed from both services in 2022 and hasn’t been seen on streaming in the U.S. since. In the U.K., it was also just removed from Prime Video on Oct. 2.
Swamp Thing (2019) deserves a redemption before James Mangold’s movie
The good news for Swamp Thing fans is that one of the first things James Gunn has done since taking over DC Studios is to get a movie all about the avatar of the Green off the ground (or out of the swamp), enlisting Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘s James Mangold to write and direct. Mangold’s promise that it’s going to be a Frankenstein-inspired story tells us he definitely understands the assignment, but still, it’s only right that we properly lay the last Swamp Thing to rest before we enjoy the next one.
Starring Crystal Reed (Teen Wolf) and Derek Mears (Alita: Battle Angel) as Abby Arcane and the swamp creature she develops a surprising connection with, Swamp Thing is guaranteed to please both those looking for gnarly horror content (this show does not hold back, I promise) and the more emotive, fantasy storytelling of Alan Moore’s acclaimed comics, which it closely draws from. DC experts will appreciate the various cameos and crossover characters, but it’s highly accessible to newbies too.
Swamp Thing is intelligently scripted, well-acted, and beautifully shot (the high production values is a big reason for its short lifespan) and more than deserves your time. Thankfully, despite its streaming exodus, the series is still available to rent or buy through Prime Video, Google, and the usual suspects and can also be found on disc for physical media fans. If there’s any justice, Gunn can maybe pull some strings and get it on streaming for next Halloween but for now, the saga of Swamp Thing’s rotten luck continues.
