RUMOR: SWAMP THING Pilot To Be Directed By Len Wiseman (And Story Details Emerge!)

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While fans will get to see the first season of Titans later this year, production for another upcoming DC Universe series is getting ready to begin soon. The James Wan-produced Swamp Thing series will begin filming in Wilmington, North Carolina this fall. As the upcoming show nears the start of production, new details regarding its pilot episode have emerged.

SplashReport released a double whammy of information on the Swamp Thing pilot. First the site shared a source’s thoughts on the pilot episode- presumably via a copy of the script, as the episode has yet to actually be shot yet. The big takeaway from their report though is that unlike Titans or the various MCU Netflix series, the Swamp Thing pilot doesn’t really feel at all like a superhero show. Instead the pilot has far more of a horror vibe going on, with comparisons to Castle Rock and American Horror Story being made.

The source stated:

“While the show opens with a horror sequence, for the most part, the pilot is focused on establishing the town of Houma and the characters that live within it rather than the scares. But when the frights do come, they work. Funnily, SWAMP THING has a lot in common with shows like SHARP OBJECTS and CASTLE ROCK whereby an inhabitant of an old town comes back after decades away and sees how much it has/hasn’t changed. Meet Abby Arcane, a CDC medical agent who returns to, you guessed it, Houma after decades away to investigate the outbreak of a new infection that is taking over the town. Along with her investigation, we meet a bunch of characters. Most notably Alec Holland, a person who is also drawn to the swamp virus for reasons I won’t get into… There’s also Abby’s friend in the CDC, Harlan; the wealthy family Mr. and Mrs. Sunderland, who have a complicated history with Abby; and a police officer, Matt Cable, among many others. All of them are solid characters, though nothing incredibly deep, they do the job. I particularly liked Abby’s relationship with Mrs. Sunderland, who still holds resentment for Abby after what she did to their family decades ago. It’s one of the highlights of this episode.

Anyway, back to the crux of the story: the infection. It is seriously gross. It’s vomit-inducing gross. It’s described as causing plant growth inside of people that create their bodies to be mutilated and mixed with plant matter to produce a hybrid of grossness. And I guess that’s part of why SWAMP THING feels so unique. There aren’t that many ‘scares’ in the pilot, but there’s a hell of a lot of weird, creepy s***! There are plenty of body-horror visuals that are perhaps even more desired than traditional horror elements. The world of SWAMP THING is what is established in this pilot, and it’s spooky.

Strangely, or perhaps thankfully, the character of Swamp Thing itself doesn’t indeed appear much at all in this episode. He’s more of a figure causing havoc behind-the-scenes and throwing the narrative into motion. The show is far more focused on the human characters than the monster. Since I am unfamiliar with the source material, maybe that’s what Swamp Thing is all about, but I always assumed the stories followed the big monster as he did vigilante duties. It is evident by the end of the pilot, however, that Swamp Thing will undoubtedly play a more significant, direct role moving forward.“

That all sounds intriguing, but who will helm the pilot episode? Well, according to SplashReport, the Swamp Thing pilot is likely to be directed by Len Wiseman, the creator of the Underworld film franchise and director of the 2012 Total Recall remake. Here’s hoping the first season winds up being a hit!

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SOURCES: SplashReport, SplashReport