In response to a recent theory online, the North Carolina Film Office has denied that a tax break accounting error led to the cancellation of DC Universe's Swamp Thing.
Yesterday, news broke that DC Universe had officially canceled Swamp Thing after one season. Later, a theory began circulating that the reason Swamp Thing was canceled may have been due to an accounting error made by the state of North Carolina.
Guy Gaster, the Director of the North Carolina Film Office, contacted CBR to clarify that the state and Warner Bros. entered into their contract with both parties fully aware of how the numbers would break down. Further, Mr. Gaster provided the amount of the tax rebate, as well as the actual tax break amount Swamp Thing was eligible to receive for its pilot episode, and Season 1 overall.
The production team for Swamp Thing knew before production began that North Carolina would offer up to $4.9M in rebates for their pilot episode and $12M for the remainder of season one. They accepted said offer and even signed a contract with the state with those figures. Per state legislation, the NC Film and Entertainment grant can only award up to $12M per season for a series. Per the program’s guidelines, pilot episodes are counted as their own series. In total, the program only receives $31M annually.
It was previously believed North Carolina promised WarnerMedia a tax rebate that ended up getting diminished due to a paperwork error. The theorized $40 million would have covered half of the first season's budget, which is estimated to be at $80 million.
It was also theorized that said error played a factor in the Season 1 production ending early back in April, with the season's episode count trimmed from 13 to 10. The theory continued that once the error was discovered, WarnerMedia shut down production since the studio would be paying more for the series than it originally thought.
CBR has reached out to Warner Bros./DC Universe for comment.
All 10 episodes of the series will still air weekly on DC Universe, with the finale set for Aug. 2.
Executive produced by James Wan, Mark Verheiden, Gary Dauberman, Michael Clear and Len Wiseman, Swamp Thing will premiere sometime on May 31 on the DC Universe. The supernatural horror series stars Crystal Reed, Andy Bean, Derek Mears, Jennifer Beals, Henderson Wade, Will Patton, Virginia Madsen, Jeryl Prescott, Henderson Wade and Kevin Durand.