Swamp Thing will join The CW’s Fall schedule for an encore run, and fans should take this opportunity to lobby for a second season.
The CW announced its Fall schedule this past week, and among the shows that will be part of the network’s lineup is an encore run of the first season of Swamp Thing which initially ran on the DC Universe streaming service in Spring of 2019 before getting cancelled. The appearance of that show on The CW’s schedule is not a big surprise as the network is trying to fill out the Prime Time hours with as much scripted programming as possible since its regular shows like the Arrow-verse entries and Legacies will be delayed to January due to the production shutdowns. Also joining the lineup is an encore run of the CBS All Access series Tell Me a Story as well as some imports. The CW has hours to fill and is jointly owned by Warner Bros and CBS who in turn own the streaming originals (and the WB-owned Stargirl starts its encore run on The CW this week).
But with Swamp Thing getting a second life of sorts on broadcast television, many fans will wonder if this could lead to a revival with the series returning for a second season or more and joining the Arrow-verse.
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The DC Comics-based series debuted in late May last year, but received a quick cancellation after only one episode had been released. The rest of the first season episodes continued with their weekly release, but no second season would follow. That left the show with a truncated storyline that had originally been planned to play out over at least three seasons.
Trouble for Swamp Thing started early when the episode order was cut from thirteen to ten. According to the Geeks World Wide site–which talked to sources behind the scenes–Warner execs were not happy with the direction of the show after seeing early cuts and made the call to end it after ten episodes. They decided the show was too expensive (the price tag of the first season is in the $80 million range) and preferred the lighter approach of The CW superhero entries like The Flash and Supergirl. Apparently, both HBO and The CW considered picking up the show for a second season, but decided to pass on it at that time. Executive producers James Wan, Gary Dauberman, and Mark Verheiden tried to fight for the show, but they were not able to convince Warner Bros. to keep it going.
Now, the production shutdowns that have led to a dearth of available scripted programming, so the show has been picked up for an encore run on one of the networks that previously passed on the opportunity for a second season. The CW’s president Mark Pedowitz has said that there are currently no plans to continue the show on the network past its first season, but still left the door open:
At the moment, it’s just the one season. I do not know if it would come back. Obviously that would be a discussion for Warner Bros. and The CW. But at this time, Swamp Thing is just the episodes we have.
Add to that the fact that the cast and crew have already been released from their contracts and the sets have likely been destroyed. That would make it difficult to ramp up a second season, but not impossible. Plus HBO Max has a Justice League Dark series in the works which would also certainly involve the Swamp Thing character, and WB may not want a separate series running on another network.
Ultimately, It could very well be in the hands of the fans at this point. If they were to stage a Call to Action on the social networks to bring attention to the show, that could help boost its ratings for its broadcast run. If they can also get the show trending on the social networks prior to its debut on The CW and while it is airing, that will definitely get the attention of network execs. It is a longshot at this point, but the encore run does give the show a second life, and the efforts of the fans could help that to continue into a second season if they make a strong enough push.
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