WARNING: The following article contains minor spoilers for the pilot episode of Swamp Thing, premiering today on DC Universe.
Like most comic book adaptations, DC Universe's Swamp Thing takes some liberties with the source material, offering not so much a translation and a reimagining. The premise of the new live-action series, and the names of the key players, will be familiar to fans of DC horror comics, even the characters themselves have undergone changes on their way to the screen.
Based on the comic character created in 1971 by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, Swamp Thing follows Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed), a physician for the Centers for Disease Control who returns home to Marais, Louisiana, to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus. There, she crosses paths with biologist Alec Holland (Andy Bean), who goes missing in the swamp, only for something else to rise from the water in his place.
What follows is a breakdown of the key characters introduced in the pilot episode, and how they compare to their comic book counterparts.
Abby Arcane
Our entry into fictional Marais, Louisiana, and the supernatural world of Swamp Thing, Abby Arcane is a doctor with the Centers for Disease Control's Epidemic Intelligence Service, which, as she says in the pilot, is a real thing. Played by Crystal Reed, Abby returns to her hometown to investigate the outbreak of a mysterious swamp-borne virus but also to confront the ghosts of her past: She is, somehow, responsible for the death of her best friend Shawna, daughter of the Sunderlands, the wealthiest and most powerful family in Marais.
Reed's Abby Arcane doesn't physically resemble the character from the comic books, who's known for her distinctive white hair with a black stripe. The two share troubled pasts, although in the comics it's because of Abby's family, which includes her uncle Anton, an early archenemy of the Swamp Thing. While Abby's comic book counterpart possesses telepathy, empathy and telekinesis, the TV version doesn't display such abilities -- yet, in any case.
"That's a secret!" Reed teased in an interview with CBR. "Yeah, we haven't delved into that completely, and there might be some hints of that moving towards the end of the season, but I don't want to give too much away."
Alec Holland
Portrayed by Andy Bean, Alec Holland is a biologist hired by the powerful Avery Sunderland to help in identifying what more the swamp can provide Marais -- new medicines, fertilizers and "God knows what else" -- and solve so many of the town's economic troubles. Or so Sunderland says. There are hints in the pilot episode that Alec is running away from something himself, and that Sunderland gave him a second chance, out of the kindness of his heart, naturally.
It's Alec who provides Abby with her first clues about the origin of the the mysterious virus spreading across Marais: a mysterious new mutagen he discovered in the swamp. Much like his comic book analog, Alec pays a price, only to emerge from the murky waters as something that's no longer human.
In the comics, Alec was a scientist who worked with his wife, Linda, in the Louisiana swamps to create a "bio-restorative formula" intended to solve the world's food-shortage woes. When his lab is bombed by a criminal organization, Alec runs from the facility, covered in the formula, and crawls back out of the water as the Swamp Thing, later revealed as the latest in a long line of Elementals, devoted to protecting plant life.
Matthew Cable
An agent with Defense Department Intelligence, Matthew Cable set out to find who was responsible for the deaths of his friend Alec and Linda Holland following the bombing of their Louisiana lab. He mistakenly believed the Swamp Thing was the killer, and tracked the creature to the Balkans, where he met, fell in love with, and eventually married, young Abby Arcane. Their relationship deteriorated, and a drunken Matthew was mortally wounded in a car accident, only for his body to be used by Abby's evil uncle Anton Arcane to permit him to escape Hell. Following Anton's defeat, Matthew dies.
That might have been the end of the character, except that he found new life in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, where Dream of the Endless revived Matthew and turned him into a crude, wise-cracking raven.
Matt Cable is played by Henderson Wade on Swamp Thing, where he's an old friend of Abby's who has served for the past four years as a deputy with the fictional Montrivelle Parish Sheriff's Department.
Madame Xanadu
Madame Xanadu (Jeryl Prescott) is seen only in passing in Swamp Thing's pilot, as Abby Arcane and Alec Holland pay a visit to Delroy's Roadhouse, the local dive bar. "Xanadu," Abby says, "I can't believe she's still here." We can tell that she's blind, but she doesn't appear to be sitting in the balcony merely to soak in Marais' nightlife; she's a fortune teller.
That, of course, syncs up with the character's comic book roots. Well, sort of. Introduced in 1978 in the DC horror anthology Doorway to Nightmare, Xanadu is an immortal with precognitive powers whose origins were later revealed to be found in Arthurian legend, as the youngest sister of Morgan Le Fay and the Lady of the Lake. It turns out, they're descendants of the last survivors of Atlantis. Like so many other characters from DC's 1970s horror anthologies, Xanadu has become a mainstay of the publisher's supernatural stories.
Avery Sunderland
Played by Will Patton on Swamp Thing, Avery Sunderland is the wealthiest and most influential man in Marais, Louisiana, who claims to want to exploit the swamp for the betterment of the town, which has seen better times. To that end, he hired biologist Alec Holland to help identify any resources that could be developed as medicines, fertilizers and the like. However, audiences, just like Marais' citizens, can be forgiven if they suspect Avery's intentions aren't entirely selfless.
That's, in part, because in the comics, Avery Sunderland is the founder and CEO of the Sunderland Corporation, a scientific research firm that does business with both the government and the criminal underworld. Following the explosion the killed Lind and (seemingly) Alec Holland, Sunderland became determined to learn about them and their bio-restorative formula. When the Swamp Thing appeared to have died, Avery arranged for scientist Jason Woodrue (aka the Floronic Man) to be released from prison to examine the body.
Liz Tremayne
When Abby Arcane wants to learn the scuttlebutt around Marais, Formula, to help her identify the source of the epidemic, she heads with Alec Holland to Delroy's Roadhouse, to seek out her childhood friend, Liz Tremayne. Played by Marla Sten, she's more than a bartender; she's a reporter for the local newspaper who knows the word at the docks.
Introduced in 1983 in DC's Swamp Thing, Liz was the host of the tabloid new show In-Depth Magazine who investigated the deaths of Alec and Linda Holland, and uncovered that the Sunderland Corporation was behind them. She published her findings about reports of a creature in the Louisiana swamps in a book titled Swamp-Man: Fact or Myth?
Now streaming on DC Universe, Swamp Thing stars Crystal Reed, Andy Bean, Derek Mears, Jennifer Beals, Henderson Wade, Will Patton, Virginia Madsen, Jeryl Prescott and Kevin Durand. The series is executive produced by James Wan, Mark Verheiden, Gary Dauberman, Michael Clear and Len Wiseman.