Todd McFarlane calls Spawn reboot ‘dark’ and ‘nasty’

Though we have no filming or release date for the long-promised Spawn reboot, writer/director Todd McFarlane has an update for everyone. McFarlane appeared in a Twitch video (via MovieWeb) from Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle, Washington this weekend and spoke about the film. The video comes from a panel he did at the convention with Stan Lee, moderated by Clare Kramer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The film has been in development since 2009, and in 2013, McFarlane had said it might be a year out from filming. At the time he said, “It’s not going to be a giant budget [film] with a lot of special effects. Its going to be more of a horror movie and a thriller movie, not a superhero one.”

This time around, McFarlane is reporting that he’s taking the Spawn reboot to a much darker place. He said in the video, “Listen, I’m going to paint it for you. The movie is going to be a dark R… If here’s PG-13 and here’s Deadpool and here’s Logan, we’re going to be here. It’s going to be dark. It’s going to be nasty.” McFarlane plans to both write and direct the film about the character he created. Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1 (May 1992). In the comic, The character is otherwise known as Al Simmons, an assassin who, after being murdered, returns to the world as a Hellspawn, a demonic undead creature powered by necroplasm.

McFarlane recently spoke to ComicBook.com about the film, saying that he wanted to direct, but knew that he’d have to keep the budget low as a first-time director. He said, “I knew I needed to keep the story and the budget both tight so that when I go to Hollywood and I say ‘I have to direct it, that’s not even a negotiation, so if you can’t accept that, then the conversation is over quickly,’ then once they understand the scope and size and budget of it, they’re like ‘Oh, okay. It’s not like Todd’s coming in here asking for $100 million and then saying let me direct my first movie. He’s saying ‘Give me $10 million to make a little horror movie and let’s see if we can scare some people. We’ve done that tons of times.'”

There was a film version of the character back in 1997, directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé, starring John Leguizamo, Michael Jai White and Martin Sheen. Are you guys excited for the Spawn reboot? Who would you like to see in the film? Let us know in the comments!