Image Comics co-founder, comic book creator, and media businessman Todd McFarlane has confirmed he’s read the latest Spawn reboot script.
For an extended period of time, Todd McFarlane has been attracted to the languishing Spawn reboot about the titular force of hellish nature. As per IGN, there has been a new development in the project as the creator of Spawn has read up to page 80 of the current screenplay.
Before the writer of this article goes on this is what we do know: McFarlane is helming the upcoming reboot as director and even at one point took a stab at a previous draft of the film’s script. Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner (both of whom experienced incidents that affected their health) were cast as Al Simmons/Spawn and Twitch Williams, respectively. Jason Blum is the producer under Blumhouse Productions.
It was previously reported that screenwriter Brian Tucker behind neo-noir thriller Broken City carried out a rewrite of McFarlane’s preceding version of the screenplay. In October last year, Scott Silver, Malcolm Spellman, and Matthew Nixon were tapped to perform another rewrite.
How did the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike affect the Spawn reboot?
Blum informed Comicbook.com back in June that Spawn is being aimed for a 2025 release. However, the 2023 writers and actors strike has complicated things. Before the strike, the latest draft written by Silver, Spellman, and Nixon was on page 80 which the comic creator, publisher, and toy legend had read. He said:
"“The writers have been thinking about it a lot, hopefully, because they’re not able to do the writing. So all they can do is think about it so that as soon as the strike’s over, they can quickly finish the script. I’ve seen up to page 80 of the present script, so they’re near the finish line. I think they’ll get it done fairly quickly and then we’ll do some rewrites and we’ll be in Hollywood.”"
From his statement, it sounds promising to some but to others who are not as hopeful and may give the long-running in-development Spawn reboot more scrutiny, it lends itself to some problems. The fact that McFarlane even mentioned “ rewrites” leads this writer to believe they are still quite well away from cameras rolling.
What do you think of the recent update of the Spawn film reboot? Do you believe it will meet its 2025 release date after the actor’s and writer’s strike conclude? Sound off in the comments below!