Ever since DC Universe announced it would be making a Swamp Thing series, we’ve been curious as to what form the show will take. Will it be gritty and violent Titans? Will it be whimsical and trippy like Doom Patrol? From what we’ve seen of the series so far, Swamp Thing seems to be leaning heavily into its horror roots.
And that’s hardly a surprise, given the involvement of horror auteur/executive producer James Wan, who recently crossed over with the massively successful Aquaman. And the teaser trailer promises plenty of scares and creepy body horror:
The synopsis for the series reads “Swamp Thing follows Abby Arcane as she investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana but soon discovers that the swamp holds mystical and terrifying secrets. When unexplainable and chilling horrors emerge from the murky marsh, no one is safe.”
But the newest teaser features a more tender moment, in which Swamp Thing and Abby Arcane (Teen Wolf‘s Crystal Reed) tenderly embrace in the water, while her voice-over says “sometimes the man of your dreams turns out to be a monster.” Which leads us to one very important question: are Swamp Thing and Abby going to f-ck?
Okay, don’t look at me like that. After all, we’re living in a post The Shape of Water world, where a sea creature man has sex with the film’s heroine. That film won a boatload of Oscars, so whose being weird now? Even James Wan admits that there is going to be a strong romance throughout the series, saying “We want to lean more into the Gothic horror/romance aspect of it … It’s a human story … Basically, it’s Beauty and the Beast. It’s about this guy struggling to find his humanity as he’s transforming and becoming more and more of a monster.”
And given that the series will be streaming on DC Universe, Swamp Thing could very well turn into DC’s version of True Blood. Both series feature Southern-fried Louisiana heroines tangling with sexy monsters. And this would be keeping in canon with Swamp Thing‘s comic book history, which is, shall we say, pretty horny.
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run in the early 80s, which revitalized the character, followed a romance between Swamp Thing/Alec Holland and Abby, which culminated in a trippy sex scene. In issue #34 (“Rites of Spring”), Swamp Thing gives Abby a fruit to eat that he grew from his own body, which transports her into The Green, a transcendental head space where she can consummate her affair with Alec’s consciousness. It is classic Moore psychedelia, and it still holds up surprisingly well.
In summation, it seems like Abby and Swamp Thing are going to do the monster mash. What do you think? Are you all in on this romance or wish it would stay PG-13?
(via io9, image: DC Universe)
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