Seems to me this leaves a big hole in their roster that a redeveloped Metropolis would fill quite nicely. And if they wanted to repurpose Crystal Reed as Lois Lane, that'd be fine by me. 
News ‘Swamp Thing’ series In works at DC Digital Service, ‘Metropolis’ in redevelopment
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Seems to me this leaves a big hole in their roster that a redeveloped Metropolis would fill quite nicely. And if they wanted to repurpose Crystal Reed as Lois Lane, that'd be fine by me.
I don't know if that's gonna happen. There's been rumors for months now that DC Universe is struggling financially and will soon be folded into Warner Bros.'s upcoming streaming service later this year. The parent company may want them to just focus on the shows already in development that haven't been cancelled (Titans, Doom Patrol, Stargirl, Young Justice: Outsiders, Harley Quinn), and then they'll develop any new DC-related programming themselves after the merger.
They were going to go from Swamp Thing to Titans to Stargirl IIRC. They could maybe move Doom Patrol season 2 after that without leaving too many gaps?
It's always a shame when something like this get its wings clipped before it ever had a chance.
It's always a shame when something like this get its wings clipped before it ever had a chance.
The mistake wasn't on the production's part. Rather, the NC House of Representatives slashed the film grant board's budget because they misunderstood the process and thought they had more money available than they did. https://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20190429/film-funding-nearly-cut-from-nc-house-budget
It was less a prediction than a happy daydream. I actually suspect Metropolis is dead on the vine and will be "redeveloped" never and nowhere. But imagining Reed as Lois was the highlight of my day so far.
It’s a money pit project now.
WB doesn’t get the tax rebate now. The production costs mean they’re more in the hole now that when they first started.
Relocating and cutting the budget wouldn’t even have helped
WB doesn’t get the tax rebate now. The production costs mean they’re more in the hole now that when they first started.
Relocating and cutting the budget wouldn’t even have helped
I'm trying to parse the article that @Christopher posted because it sounds like the money was reinstated so maybe the cancellation was premature? Or maybe the already reportedly troubled production was just ready to be done with it?
I'm also now seeing speculation that the massive and intricate set that they built in a water tank (shooting a project on a TV show's shooting schedule in the extremely unpredictable and uncontrollable conditions of a real swamp is not an option) killed their changes of relocating. The cost of either moving that set to or building a similar set in another state would have been astronomically expensive.
It was pragmatism that killed the beast.
It was pragmatism that killed the beast.
No, it sounds like even after the funds were restored, the amount the production could get in rebates was smaller than expected, though I don't know why.
Crazy to think the 1990 Swamp Thing series that went for three seasons and 72 episodes.
(I know that doesn't really mean anything I just found it darkly amusing in contrast)
(I know that doesn't really mean anything I just found it darkly amusing in contrast)
It sounds like it might not actually be true, but IGN also says there was dispute about what the shows is supposed to be, one person wanted it to lean hard into the horror stuff, but another person wanted a weekly procedural.
It also says that the whole streaming service is being "reevaluated".
It's a shame to hear there won't be more of this, because so far the reactions I've seen to it have been very positive, and the trailer last couple trailers looked good.
It also says that the whole streaming service is being "reevaluated".
It's a shame to hear there won't be more of this, because so far the reactions I've seen to it have been very positive, and the trailer last couple trailers looked good.
This has nothing to do with DC Universe being too "niche".
DC built the production of Swamp Thing around money that they were promised but that wasn't actually available, and, as a result, cannot afford to continue to produce the series - even if they relocated its production to another state - without a substantial decrease in the quality of the final product.
DC built the production of Swamp Thing around money that they were promised but that wasn't actually available, and, as a result, cannot afford to continue to produce the series - even if they relocated its production to another state - without a substantial decrease in the quality of the final product.
The "too niche" comment wasn't about the cancellation. It was about the reports coming from IGN and other sources that DC Universe is really struggling to get and keep subscribers, so Warner Bros. is thinking about shuttering DC Universe and folding it into the upcoming Warner streaming service.
^ Ok.
As an addendum to what I said above, though, I've since seen something from Cinemablend that says that while the cancellation of Swamp Thing is monetarily driven, it wasn't quite fair to place the blame on North Carolina because the show did in fact get everything that it asked for in terms of promised money from the state for the production of Season 1, so the reasons are probably more along the lines of DC looking at whether or not it could afford to produce the series going forward, even if they continued to receive every available penny of grant funding from North Carolina for future seasons, and deciding that the answer to that question was "no".
As an addendum to what I said above, though, I've since seen something from Cinemablend that says that while the cancellation of Swamp Thing is monetarily driven, it wasn't quite fair to place the blame on North Carolina because the show did in fact get everything that it asked for in terms of promised money from the state for the production of Season 1, so the reasons are probably more along the lines of DC looking at whether or not it could afford to produce the series going forward, even if they continued to receive every available penny of grant funding from North Carolina for future seasons, and deciding that the answer to that question was "no".
Some interesting stuff here, starting right at the top for why they say the show was cancelled:
https://www.reddit.com/r/swampthing..._thing_is_canceled_why_what_can_i_do_to_help/
https://www.reddit.com/r/swampthing..._thing_is_canceled_why_what_can_i_do_to_help/
That's fucking horseshit if it was due to a new lead executive preferring the CW Arrowverse approach. There's more than one valid formula and tone to create a TV series with. The reason people love DC and Marvel comics to begin with is their diversity in tone and storytelling techniques. If there was only one way to make a superhero comic, movie or TV series the genre would have died out decades ago.
^ I would trust Cinemablend's reporting far more than I would some Reddit thread.
They sourced it to Bloody Disgusting's reporting that executives at Warner Bros. & DC Universe had already lost faith in the show fearing that its darker, horror-based tone would limit the audience reach and keep them from bringing in new subscribers. A later update to Bloody Disgusting reported that one producer on the show was fighting for the horror serial approach while another producer was fighting for the lighter, procedural-with-a-seasonal-arc approach of the Arrowverse, Lucifer and Doom Patrol.
It looks like you were right, though. Even without the funding issues, there was probably no happy ending for this show.