Swamp Thing halts production three episodes early and rewrites ending

DC Universe’s highly anticipated Swamp Thing series has waded into some murky waters. What would be the third original show for the streaming service (alongside Titans and Doom Patrol) has stopped production early in order for its creative team to trim its story by three episodes.

SYFY WIRE has learned that the show will no longer have a 13-episode first season, but now consists of 10 episodes. This was attributed to a creative decision. The premiere date will remain May 31.

Swamp Thing had been filming in Wilmington, North Carolina, since late last year. News of the shut-down was first reported by local media, including the Wilmington Star-News and WECT News, citing on-set sources. The ballad of Alec Holland and his botanical transformation stopped early, with crew members reportedly caught off-guard by the announcement on Tuesday night. The 10th episode’s production was supposed to wrap while “writers and producers rewrite an ending,” per the Wilmington Star-News.

Crystal Reed's stand-in on the series, Danielle Delponte, seemed to confirm all this on Instagram:

Second assistant camera Darwin Brandis simply had a "sigh" to post:

SYFY WIRE has reached out to DC for comment.

The series is now mired in uncertainty, especially since this call was reportedly a creative one. Since the writing team supposedly now has to reshuffle the plot to make up for those three lost episodes, plenty of reshoots are expected so that the end product makes sense, according to local reports.