James Wan Reacts to Swamp Thing’s Surprise Cancellation

Following Swamp Thing‘s surprising cancellation, executive producer James Wan took to Instagram to share his reaction to the unfortunate news. The show was the DC Universe‘s third original live-action series to launch and was also the first one to receive a cancellation.

“Don’t really know or understand why #Swampthing was cancelled,” Wan wrote, “but I can tell you this — all the cast and crew, and producing/writing team poured their hearts into this. Really proud of everyone’s hard work. Go watch episode 2, and immortalize these 10 episodes. Swampy deserves it.”

The series premiered May 31 on the video-on-demand service operated by DC Entertainment and received generally favorable reviews. It seems that Swamp Thing has an unlucky aura surrounding it when it comes to television adaptations. The news of DC Universe cancellation of Swamp Thing reminds us of the animated series which debuted on Fox Kids in April 1991. In that case, it only aired five episodes. On the other hand, in the early ’90s, the USA Network ran a Swamp Thing series for three seasons.

RELATED: Swamp Thing Episode 2 Recap

The live-action series, based on the character originally created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, will be executive produced by Len Wiseman (Sleepy Hollow) who also directed the pilot. Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica, Netflix’s Daredevil) and Gary Dauberman (It)  co-wrote the series and act as showrunners, with James Wan (Aquaman) serving as an executive-producer alongside Verheiden, Dauberman, and Michael Clear.

• Watch Swamp Thing (1982) Now!

The series will star Andy Bean as Alec Holland, Will Patton as Avery Sutherland Crystal Reed as Abby Arcane, Maria Sten as Liz Tremayne, Jeryl Prescott as Madame Xanadu, Jennifer Beals as Sheriff Lucilia Cable, Virginia Madsen as Maria Sunderland, Henderson Wade as Matt Cable, Kevin Durand as Jason Woodtrue/Floronic Man and Leonardo Nam (Westworld) as Harlan Edwards. Committing to the lead role of the titular monster is The Flash‘s Derek Mears.

RELATED: DC Universe Drops the First Full-Length Swamp Thing Trailer

Swamp Thing made his comic book debut back in 1971 and has maintained his position as a staple of the DCU since then, including seminal runs written by Alan Moore, Brian K. Vaughan, Mark Millar, and Scott Snyder. The character was previously adapted into a feature film from Wes Craven in 1982, which spawned a sequel seven years later, and a USA Network series that ran for three seasons in the early ’90s. Dick Durock took on the role in both the films and the series. An animated Swamp Thing series also debuted in the early ’90s but only aired five episodes.