Todd McFarlane’s long-delayed Spawn movie is taking shape with a release date approaching.
Despite decades of delays that have seen the project languish in development hell, comic book fans can expect the much-anticipated movie reboot of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, starring Jamie Foxx, to arrive in 2025.
In September 2023, during a press junket interview for The Exorcist: Believer, Jason Blum, the CEO of Blumhouse Productions, who signed on to partner with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane on the long-gestating project, confirmed that the film is on schedule to be released in 2025.
“2025 is when Spawn is going to come out,” Blum said. “I stand by that. I stand by that.”
Centered on Al Simmons, a CIA black ops specialist who ends up being murdered by corrupt colleagues only to strike a deal with the devil to return as a powerful Hellspawn on Earth to serve Satan, Spawn has enjoyed a cult following since the first issue was published in 1992.
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To date, one movie and an acclaimed animated series, produced by HBO, have been made, but talk of a new film entry has been rife for close three decades now.
Who Is Starring In King Spawn?
Arguably the most significant development in the plans for the King Spawn came in May 2018 when it was announced that Jamie Foxx had signed on to play Simmons.
In an interview with Deadline, McFarlane confirmed he and Foxx had been in discussions since as far back as 2013. McFarlane said: “Jamie came to my office five years ago, and he had an idea about Spawn and we talked about it. I never forgot him, and when I was writing this script, you sort of plug people in, and he was my visual guy and I never let go of him.”
Foxx confirmed this: “A few years back I flew out to Arizona to meet the man behind one of the most incredible comic book characters in the universe… Todd McFarlane. He was taken aback when I told him with the enthusiasm of a young child that more than anything I wanted to put my name in the hat to embody his beloved character Spawn…. I told him no one would work harder than me if given the opportunity… well… the opportunity is here!!”
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In July of the same year, it was reported by Deadline that Jeremy Renner joined the cast as Detective ‘Twitch’ Williams, an NYPD homicide detective who featured in the comic book series as an unconventional ally of sorts to Spawn.
As of February 2024, both Renner and Foxx were still attached to the project, despite both actors suffering ill-health in recent years.
McFarlane told JoBlo that both were still onboard “until somebody says otherwise.” He said:
“What ends up happening– again, Hollywood is in an interesting place that actors, writers, directors, producers, they all have schedules, and the windows of opportunities open and close and open and close, right? You’ve heard about it before. Plenty of people have projects and then other stuff comes along and something gets delayed and you just got to show your schedule. So until somebody tells me in my ear that these gentlemen are not involved for whatever reason, then I assume I haven’t heard otherwise. Nobody’s nobody’s talking to me about anybody being replaced.”
Will Michael Jai White return for the Spawn reboot?
While Foxx is currently attached to star as Al Simmons, Michael Jai White, the star of the original 1997 film version, hasn’t closed the door to a potential return, however doubtful that might be at this point in time.
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“Yeah, I really don’t think much about the sequel,” White told Comicbook.com. “If I was invited to do it, then I’d apply myself toward it, but I mean, I think it’s been talked about for a very long time. And it seems that Todd McFarlane has been leading that conversation… I know he was talking about using Jamie Foxx and other things or whatever, so I’m just kind of like, well, you know, I mean, I wished him the best, but I’ve just been on the periphery of that.”
White continued, “If I was asked to be a big part of it, then that will be a different thing. I have respect for the fan base that put me where I am. I would be there.”
White was keen to stress he would only be open to a return if the film they developed stayed faithful to the comic book’s darkly violent origins and provided a glimpse of what fans could expect, with or without his involvement.
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“I don’t quite understand what the concept is,” he said “I know Todd mentioned the concept of not seeing the character and be kind of like Jaws, like you can’t really see it but it’s there. He described something to me that I didn’t agree with. I didn’t think it would work. I don’t know if he’s still doing that, but I think that to do a sequel is to do it as a hard R and make it very dark and badass. I think it needs to be like the cartoon or plain and simple: the comic book. Outside of that, I don’t think I’d be interested in doing it if it wasn’t going for the jugular.”
What Is The New Spawn Movie About?
In July 2024, the strongest hint yet of what the plot of the new Spawn movie might entail was revealed. A picture of the title page of the first draft of the script, titled “King Spawn”, was tweeted out by Blum and McFarlane. That alone suggests the film will likely serve as a continuation of the Spawn story, separate from the universe depicted in the first movie but not another rehash of the character’s origins.
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“King Spawn” has been written by Matt Mixon, Malcolm Spellman, who is best known for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney TV series and Scott Silver, who wrote the acclaimed Batman spin-off Joker.
https://x.com/Todd_McFarlane/status/1815416589648609683
Speaking at that year’s San Diego Comic-Con, McFarlane insisted the script was “true” to his spirit. “They have delivered a badass script that I think moviegoers around the world who do not even know who ‘Spawn’ or Todd McFarlane is will be excited. Because we’re excited for it.”
Describing it as “bold”, “different” and “decidedly R-rated” McFarlane predicted work on the project would accelerate should Deadpool & Wolverine prove a hit. “It’s going to establish a number that everybody in Hollywood will look at and go, ‘We need to do R-rated comic book fare.’ I’ve been saying this forever. I agree. They’re just finally going to come around to it,” he said. At the time of writing, McFarlane and Blum were thought to be on the hunt for a director.
What Is The Plot Of King Spawn?
In terms of plot details, JoBlo had previously reported that the movie would focus on Renner’s character, Twitch. They said:
“The movie will focus on NYPD detective Twitch after he loses his daughter to gang violence. He then begins his quest for revenge by enlisting the help of his ex-partner Danny to aid in his investigation of the criminal factions in New York. Twitch quickly realizes he’s in over his head as he learns that two of the largest organizations are teaming up to take over the criminal underworld of the city.”
“That’s where Spawn comes in. Twitch is visited by Al, a mysterious man who has knowledge of his daughter’s death. It quickly becomes clear that Al is not who he appears to be as he reveals himself to be Spawn, a messenger from Hell who can aid Twitch in his search for justice.”
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This runs counter to the King Spawn comic book series though, which primarily focused on a war between heaven and hell and explored more of the Spawn mythos and a spiritual war between heaven and hell.
Why Has King Spawn Taken So Long To Come Out?
The first Spawn film was released in 1997 and is arguably most significant for featuring Michael Jai White as one of the first black actors to play a comic book superhero on the big screen, arriving a year before Wesley Snipes’s Blade.
While the film made around double its reported $40-45 million budget back, the response from critics and fans alike was mixed, with McFarlane drawing criticism for watering down the horror elements of the comic book series in pursuit of something with a wider appeal.
Responding to his critics in the letters page of Spawn Issue 68, McFarlane explained he was trying to “expose Spawn to as many people in as many forms as possible” and promised things would be “rated R the next time around.”
Unfortunately, getting that R-rated Spawn project off the ground has proven difficult. According to David Hughes’ book Comic Book Movies, an early script for the sequel written by Hans Rodionoff would have seen the action center on Sam and Twitch, the two NYPD homicide detectives who feature prominently in the pages of Spawn. In this version, Spawn would have stayed more in the background as the detectives attempt to track him down. “If you dropped Blade into Lethal Weapon, you’ve sort of got what I’m looking for,” Rodinoff said at the time.
That version ultimately never came to fruition and over the next few years, McFarlane would sporadically comment on plans for the movie, which he intended to write, direct and potentially finance himself.
By 2009, McFarlane said he was working on a new script, telling ComingSoon.Net: “The story has been in my head for 7 or 8 years. The movie idea is neither a recap or continuation. It is a standalone story that will be R-rated. Creepy and scary.” He added that, contrary to the previous film entry, “the tone of this ‘Spawn’ movie will be for a more older audience. Like the film ‘Departed.'”
However, by 2013, McFarlane was still developing the project. “The thing that keeps slowing it down is that the negotiation I’ve done is I write, produce, direct, but I’ve got to push a lot of my other endeavors off to the side so I can just get tunnel vision on it,” McFarlane told The Gate “Everybody at my company is now going, ‘We’ve got to find Todd the time to finish all this.’”
At that point McFarlane was insisting that, once he got the green light, it would be a “quick shoot.” He said: “It’s not going to be a giant budget with a lot of special effects; it’s going to be more of a horror movie and a thriller movie, not a superhero one. I’ve got so many people phoning now that I’ve got to get it done. I’ve made some promises to people this year.”
Everything changed in July 2017, when Blumhouse signed a deal to produce the long-awaited movie. ““We just signed yesterday,” McFarlane revealed in a video announcement at San Diego Comic-Con. “No more theoretical … It’s coming. Get ready for it. We’re going into production.”
Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum subsequently confirmed the news in a tweet: ““Can’t wait to help Todd McFarlane bring Spawn back to the big screen his way! Here we go,” Blum wrote.
https://x.com/jason_blum/status/88850857680907059
Blum has a solid track record of delivering dark, edgy and critically well-regarded horror movies with notable successes including Get Out, The Purge and Paranormal Activity. He’s planning on similar with King Spawn, telling ScreenRant at the 2023 New York Comic Con: “I’m going to bring the Blumhouse edge. It’s going to be edgy and original as compared to other superhero movies. It’s gonna definitely feel like the Blumhouse version of a superhero movie.”
Despite Blumhouse’s involvement, McFarlane has warned that, should the project not progress sufficiently in 2024, he won’t hesitate to take it elsewhere.
“Either I’m gonna give Hollywood the best chance to do it and, if not, I’ve got plenty of outside investors waiting,” McFarlane told ComicBook.com. “So I’m trying to see if we can make the right deal within the norm of the Hollywood structure. If not, there have been plenty of examples, actually, a couple big ones last year, where people went outside the normal channels and succeeded.”
