Character Details Revealed For James Wan's Live-Action SWAMP THING Series
DC's live-action Swamp Thing series being produced by James Wan is actually one of the most exciting projects for me that is coming from DC Entertainment. I'm just such a huge fan of Swamp Thing and the fact that Wan is helping develop it is exciting because he's such a great storyteller.
We learned from the initial announcement that the story will follow "CDC researcher Abby Arcane, who returns to her childhood home of Houma, Louisiana, in order to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus. She develops a surprising bond with scientist Alec Holland, only to have him tragically taken from her. But as powerful forces descend on Houma, intent on exploiting the swamp’s mysterious properties for their own purposes, Abby will discover that the swamp holds mystical secrets, and the potential love of her life may not be dead after all."
Now today, thanks to That Hashtag Show, we have some new details regarding the main characters that the series will focus on. Those characters are Abby Arcane and Alex Holland a.k.a. Swamp Thing.
Here are the details revealed on the female lead in the series Abby Arcane, who made her first appearance in DC Comics in Swamp Thing #3 back in March 1973:
The live-action version is a 30-something intelligent woman, who is a bit of a lone wolf. She works for the Center for Disease Control who ends up assigning her to investigate the “Houma Flu”, which happens to be in her hometown. Abby’s tragic past consists of losing her mother when she was only 8 years old and in turn, ended up making her move between multiple foster families. Once she was done with high school, she left Houma to pursue her dream of developing a medical career. While she performs well with her job, she has a bit of a power struggle with her employer. There is a tragic reason why Abby left Houma to begin with, that she keeps a secret and it has caused her to develop a pill addiction.
When she left her hometown, Abby left things on an awkward note with her high school ex-boyfriend Matt, who is now a cop for Houma. But when she befriends Alec Holland, who works as a researcher for the Sunderland Corporation, it starts out on a good note between them. However, their efforts of investigating the Houma flu in the swamp is not appreciated by the town people when the researchers suggest for the swamp to be shut down temporarily. For some reason, the swamp is where the Houma citizens make their living from it. Not only does Abby have to deal with a possible epidemic in her own hometown, where the people are getting hostile with her, she also begins an odd romance, in the tone of Shape of Water, with a creature that was born in the swamp.
The male lead character in the show is Alex Holland. He is the one that turns into Swamp Thing, the character of which was created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson:
Alec is a 30-something wise man, with a hot temper and a big passion for his work as a researcher for the Sunderland Corporation. The company is seemingly building a hospital in Houma. When Abby Arcane returns to the town to investigate the Houma flu, Alec forms an instant bond with her, he discovers that they are very similar people. Both being incredibly invested in science and not caring too much about having a love life. Alex discovers that there is a connection between the Houma flu and the swamp, which is making the people in town hostile with him as well. Despite the bad attitude he gets from the citizens, Alec is determined to get to the bottom of this flu. However, things go haywire when Alec is put through an odd transformation in the form of a swamp-like creature with extraordinary abilities.
Exciting stuff! I just can't wait to see how this series turns out. I'm excited to see the design aspect of the series, especially what the Swamp Thing character ends up looking like.
Swamp Thing is being written by Mark Verheiden (Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel’s Daredevil) and Gary Dauberman (IT), and they will also serve as showrunners.
Are you excited about this upcoming Swamp Thing series? What do you think about these first details revealed for the two leads?