The new Swamp Thing has his roots in villainy. With a tough, imposing, and frightening presence — accentuated by his muscular build, deep-set eyes, and bald head, Derek Mears fit the bill for some of the most menacing roles in Hollywood.
He remained active from the mid-’90s on, dividing his time between grueling, physically demanding stunt work — in big-budget Hollywood outings such as World Trade Center (2006) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) — and on-camera character turns as thugs, hoods, muggers, creepy villains, and occasional psychopaths.
Mears’ career culminated with the remakes of two iconic slasher movies: The Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007), in which his appearance seemed to evoke the presence of Michael Berryman’s Pluto from the two original Wes Craven Hills movies.
He also played the hockey mask-wearing, machete-wielding serial killer Jason Voorhees in Michael Bay’s Friday the 13th (2009) remake. Mears now takes on the mantle of DC’s elemental superhero – Swamp Thing.
Derek Mears chats with us on taking up the mantle of Swamp Thing, his career and what he thinks is the elemental hero’s greatest superpower.
Based on the DC characters created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, SWAMP THING is produced by Atomic Monster in association with Warner Bros. Television.
The series is executive produced by James Wan (Aquaman, The Conjuring films), Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Constantine), Gary Dauberman (It and Annabelle films), Michael Clear (The Nun, Annabelle: Creation) and Len Wiseman (Lucifer, Sleepy Hollow, Underworld films).
The ten-episode superhero horror drama series is now available on Warner TV. A new episode airs every Wednesday.