Though many were put off by the “Fuck Batman” line in the first look at DC’s upcoming Titans television show on the publisher’s new DC Universe streaming service, it seems like those behind Swamp Thing, also set to debut on the platform, aren’t backing away from the grim and gritty.
Showrunner Mark Verheiden and writer Gary Dauberman recently opened up on their take on the character and explained that it’ll lean in towards the rough and dark aspects from his publication history, with of course, a little inspiration from a certain legendary and eccentric writer.
“We always set out to make Swamp Thing as hard R as we could and go graphic with the violence, with the adult themes and make it as scary as possible,” Dauberman said.
“Because we’re doing it through the DC streaming service, they really pushed us, although they didn’t have to push hard, for us to go as extreme as we could. We really took our inspiration from the Alan Moore run in Swamp Thing, this landmark I think run. Fans of that series will know it gets pretty weird and extreme and scary. We really wanted to live up to that standard that Moore set up back in the ‘80s.”
Meanwhile, Verheiden promised that their version of Swamp Thing will have more of an adult edge to it, saying:
“We’re all incredibly excited to be working on this, on this platform which is a new streaming platform that enables us to do shows that have a more adult edge, that can embrace the horror that Swamp Thing has as well as the emotionality.”
While DC and Warner Bros. have received a lot of flack for putting dreary moods into scenarios where they’re not needed (*cough* Superman *cough*), a brutal tone for Swamp Thing does make a lot of sense and will no doubt make it an improvement on the previous adaptations of the character.
Wes Craven’s 1982 effort isn’t without its upsides, but it’s hardly one of this best films, while Return of Swamp Thing is just a crappy B-movie and the 1990 TV show is mainly noted as a camp classic. The animated children’s series is similarly rubbish (though its theme song is pretty incredible).
Swamp Thing premieres sometime in 2019 on DC Universe, and as soon as we hear of any further updates, we’ll be sure to let you know.
