The Swamp Thing television series was abruptly cancelled by the DC Universe streaming service back in 2019 when network execs were unhappy with the final product (calling it too dark, more on that at this link) and decided not to move forward with the show. There were discussions at that time about moving the show to HBO Max or The CW, as well as a fan campaign to save it, but nothing came from those efforts and the series remained cancelled. However, due to the lack of original programming available for Fall 2020 because of the COVID-related production delays, Swamp Thing received an encore run in Prime Time on The CW which spurred hopes that the show may continue on that network and possibly merge into the Arrow-verse. But now that it has completed that run, it appears unlikely that the show will return for a second season.
When Swamp Thing premiered on The CW’s schedule in early October, it pulled a 0.2 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 1.1 million total viewers. Those are actually decent numbers for a CW show, especially in a Fall season when not many people were tuning in to the networks because of a lack of new programming. Its numbers quickly dropped to a 0.1 rating and remained there for the rest of its run, but it still performed better than the network’s average for Fall 2020. And it apparently also performed well in digital viewing, a measurement that CW execs pay close attention to.
And while fans may have been hoping this would be enough to get the show a second season on the network, The CW’s boss Mark Pedowitz has pretty much put the kibosh on that. In recent comments, he said that it is unlikely the network will revive the cancelled series, though he did suggest that Swamp Thing could make an appearance on Legends of Tomorrow. That would be particularly interesting because it would team the muck monster up with Constantine, another character from a previously cancelled, DC-based series, and the two have a storied history in the comics. But Pedowitz only said that would be an “interesting” thing to do and that he was “not sure” it would happen. So fans should not set their hopes too high on that.
The first season of the show that was produced by DC Universe was very expensive, costing over $8 million per episode. That is definitely well beyond the range of the average CW shows (about $2-3 million per ep or less), though it is possible the cost could have been trimmed down if the network decided to continue the show. It was well-received when it first premiered and currently holds a 92% Fresh Rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans did attempt to save the show after it was first cancelled, but surprisingly there was not much effort (that I saw at least) to use the encore run as a catalyst for a second wave of support for the show to continue. If fans had made some noise, the network might have thought long and hard about trying to slot the show into the schedule.
At this point, though, it appears that Swamp Thing has used up its second chance and still remains firmly cancelled. HBO Max is working on a Justice League Dark series that could include the Swamp Thing, and there is that slight chance the character could show up on Legends of Tomorrow. But unless execs at The CW and/or HBO Max have a change of heart, a second season for the stand-alone series does not appear to be not in the cards.
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