DC Universe’s SWAMP THING Series Has Officially Been Cancelled Due To Budgetary Reasons
Jonathan Barkan
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The first season of the new Swamp Thing series has already been cancelled and it hasn’t even aired its final episode. The reason for the cancellation is being bandied about by many, including “creative differences”, the place of DC Universe in WarnerMedia and their upcoming streaming platform, and more. News of the show getting 13 episodes axed down to 10 certainly didn’t inspire much confidence in audiences who were hoping that the series had a long life ahead of it. But the real reason for the cancellation could be much simpler: money.
When Swamp Thing entered production, it had secured nearly $40 million in tax rebates by shooting in North Carolina. With a production budget of over $80 million, that’s a hell of a lot of savings. Unfortunately, a clerical error slashed the state’s tax incentive program, nearly leaving it without any funding whatsoever. When this error was realized, the state quickly reversed its actions but Swamp Thing‘s rebate was still dropped from $40 million down to about $12 million, a MASSIVE difference. With WB on the hook for over $70 million instead of $45-ish million, that certainly inspired some trepidation, so much so that the series was canceled before a second season could really even be considered.
This series of tweets helps explain the situation more clearly:
In the articles about SWAMP THING there still seems to be some confusion as to the "why" of sudden shutdown. The reasons didn't hit the entertainment trades, BUT…they did hit the news in North Carolina…
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
North Carolina promised a $40m tax rebate that, due to a paperwork error, they were unable to deliver. That was roughly half the proposed budget for s1 (which is estimated at $80m).
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
When NC discovered the error, the corrected. WB shut down production, realizing they'd be taking a bath on the rebate and paying for far more of it than assumed. The adjusted number from NC is something like $14m. That's a massive difference.
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
There won't be a s2 because it's now too expensive to maintain the levels of quality of s1, *especially* for s a niche platform, and there's no great reason to keep the production on standby when the deal in NC is no good for them anyway.
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
Read 2 reports this morning from 2 different websites – one a focused genre site; one an entertainment trade – and nether mention the tax stuff. The genre site cites unnamed sources saying there were creative differences. Eh, grain of salt. This is a mostly a bean-counting thing.
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
Let me cite my sources here, so somebody can report this story with the facts…hold on, gotta find the links.
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
Here's the one about North Carolina's budgetary screw-up with the film industry: https://t.co/yng1T6CeBx
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
Here's a semi-follow up where it confirms the $ amount that NC can actually commit to: https://t.co/VWWWiviUs9
— John Gholson (@gholson) June 6, 2019
The James Wan-produced show was written by Mark Verheiden and Gary Dauberman and starred Virginia Madsen, Crystal Reed, Derek Mears, and Henderson Wade.
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