Swamp Thing: DC drops trailer after reducing series order

It’s been a weird day for DC Universe’s Swamp Thing. The comic book adaptation had its season order cut. It also dropped a teaser. We’ve got details.

Swamp Thing was always meant to be in a delightfully weird corner of DC Universe’s lineup along with its current lead-in, Doom Patrol. The noir feel of suspense turned into melodrama on Wednesday.

First,  The Hollywood Reporter and Star Online reported that production on the series, which premieres on May 31, would be stopped after episode ten. Swamp Thing was meant to have a thirteen episode season that would have wrapped production at the end of May. Apparently, there were creative differences between the show-runners Mark Verheiden (Ash Vs Evil Dead) and Gary Daubman (The Nun) and executive producers Len Wiseman (Lucifer) and James Wan (Aquaman).

The future of Swamp Thing seems to be up in the air, at best. It’s likely dead in the water before it even premieres. With rights and other legal issues that are sure to become public in the coming months, it’s not clear if Swamp Thing could even exist on another streaming service or cable channel. That’s sad. A lot of people were really looking forward to this show.

The second development of the day was a comical diversion. Per Deadline, DC Universe dropped a teaser trailer for Swamp Thing. It’s fairly simple and would actually be pretty cool if we hadn’t found out that the series is basically a one and done hours earlier.

A tracking shot slowly moves over a dark green swamp and does a good job setting up the atmosphere. Near the end of the teaser, Swamp Thing emerges from the green either and looks into the camera. Hopefully, this was already planned to drop today. It looks like the visual effects crew and cinematographer really put effort into making Swamp Thing look moody and gritty. If this was just dropped so that DC Universe could say, “There there. We know you’re gonna watch no matter what,” that would be fairly disrespectful.

Swamp Thing stars Andy Bean (Power) as Alec Holland. That’s the man who turns into the title character that will be played by Derek Mears (The Flash). The shortened season one will hit DC Universe on May 31. I’m looking forward to it. But, I’m already resigned to the fact that this will likely be its only season. I hope the story presented is tied up properly.

Were you excited for Swamp Thing’s premiere? What is your reaction to the shortened season? Let’s discuss in the comments!