Why Swamp Thing was cancelled (Why season 2 didn’t happen)

DC’s Swamp Thing made headlines when it was cancelled just days after its critically-acclaimed series premiere. Why did the DC Universe series not get a second season. 

Swamp Thing is a rare tale of a TV series that got everything so right so quickly and so definitively off-the-bat and yet was cancelled even quicker than that.

Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, the show focused on Dr. Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she returned to her hometown in Louisiana to discover the emergence of a plant-like creature known as Swamp Thing. However, the malevolent forces at work in town aren’t exactly what they seem, as the creature attempts to protect those it cares about from the dangers both in the swamp and out of it.

The horror TV show was produced for the DC Universe streaming service, but while its predecessors Titans, and Doom Patrol (and successors Harley Quinn and DC’s Stargirl) were all given the chance to thrive, Swamp Thing was infamously cancelled just days after it premiered, in spite of the fact that it received critical acclaim.

Why Swamp Thing was cancelled by DC Universe

The infamous cancellation of Swamp Thing after just one episode left fans of the show heartbroken. Why would DC Universe invest so much time and promotion into a major DC property if they were just going to cancel it after its critically-acclaimed series premiere? Well it seems that the answer to that question was the very reason for the question in the first place: The enigma that was DC Universe.

The streaming service was not the success that WarnerMedia was hoping it would be, with questions about its future being raised less than a year after its arrival. It was then implied that the future of the service was being re-evaluated and that Swamp Thing‘s cancellation may have been a casualty of that.

However, there were also reports of “creative differences”, with sources telling The Playlist that this was the actual reason there were no plans for a second season.

That said, DC Universe did shut down less than two years after Swamp Thing‘s cancelation, so it remains possible that this could have had something to do with it.

Is Swamp Thing season 2 ever going to happen?

Swamp Thing got something of a second life when The CW acquired the series to air in fall 2020 when the production shutdown after the COVID-19 pandemic left it with a shortage of content. Airing it in the weekly Tuesday night slot used for its own original DC programming The Flash, the show enjoyed renewed success, premiering to 1.1. million viewers (even though the episode had been released on DC Universe for over a year).

The show’s return to prominence once again raised questions about its cancellation, with fans wondering if The CW would ever consider bringing it back for a second season (especially as it became the new home for former DC Universe show Stargirl). The CW’s president Mark Pedowitz discussed the possibility, stating that although the network had just acquired the ten-episode first season, it “would be a discussion for Warner Bros. and The CW”.

In spite of the show’s remarkable success on the broadcast network, Pedowitz revealed that it was unlikely the show return for season 2 on The CW but that there was a slim possibility of the title character appearing on an Arrowverse show in the future (such as the now-canceled DC’s Legends of Tomorrow).

With a Justice League Dark show in development at HBO Max, rumors of the character’s return are recurring at this point. Here’s hoping he returns someday in a continuation of this incredible series.

Were you a fan of Swamp Thing? Would you have liked to have seen a second season of the DC Universe show? Let us know in the comments below!