Swamp Thing season 2: Why was the CW, DC series canceled?

Swamp Thing

Following tonight’s finale on The CW, is there any chance at a Swamp Thing season 2? Is there a reason to have hope for the future?

We wish we had some positive news to hand out at this point, but the answer is unfortunately, we don’t. The series was initially canceled back when it was airing on the DC Universe streaming service, and since then there has been no official plan to bring it back elsewhere. What you are seeing tonight is effectively the end of the road, pending of course a last-minute miracle.

One of the things we’ve long wondered is this: Is there a chance that Swamp Thing could still find a second life, thanks to the ratings on The CW? The first season airing there represented a chance at a second life, and the live numbers are at least decent. The 0.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 725,000 viewers per episode match up well when compared to many other recent CW series including Coroner, Burden of Truth, The Outpost, and Pandora. Swamp Thing doesn’t quite measure up to the ratings for Stargirl season 1, but that show was airing almost concurrently to when it was on DC Universe and had a lot more CW marketing behind it.

For the time being, we’re not super-optimistic a Swamp Thing season 2 will happen even in spite of some favorable ratings. Unlike Coroner or Burden of Truth, this would be a full CW original if it was picked up. That means it’d be far more expensive on the studio side, and there’s also the issue of reassembling the cast after a long layoff. Would the show even be able to look the same on a different budget?

In the end, we don’t want to say that all hope is 100% lost, since The CW is privy to more digital and DVR numbers than we have access to. Yet, we do think it’s an uphill battle, and for now we have to report on the info we have.

Do you think there is a chance at a Swamp Thing season 2, despite the prior cancellation?

Be sure to share in the comments below! Meanwhile, stick around for more updates. (Photo: The CW.)

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