Todd McFarlane (Spawn, The Amazing Spider-Man) had revealed that nearly completed animated Spawn continuation that has been sitting unreleased for years. During an interview with ComicBook at SDCC, the Spawn creator explained that the 90-minute project was developed as continuation of the HBO animated series that originally aired in 1997, holding only three seasons and a total of 18 episodes before ending.
Although the project unreleased, McFarlane described it as a return to the animated version of the property rather than a separate adaptation. The project was developed after the original series, but a dispute with members of the production and its legal team stopped it from moving forward.
The animated Spawn series follows Al Simmons, a murdered CIA agent who makes a deal with a demon to return to Earth as a Hellspawn. It ended on an unresolved cliffhanger in 1999 after three seasons due to production shifts at HBO.
McFarlane eventually bought the project back and has kept the existing material in storage. “We were in the process of developing the return of this Spawn animation a while back,” McFarlane said in the interview with ComicBook.
“And then I got in a fight at the very end with the production and the lawyer, so I just bought it all back.” According to McFarlane, the unreleased continuation is much further along than an early concept or unfinished script.
The storyboards and voice performances have already been completed, though the final animation and some sound work still need to be produced. “I actually have a 90-minute animated show that’s all been drawn, minus the cells,” he said. “All the voices have been done.”
The project would also bring back Keith David (Gargoyles, Community) as Spawn. David voiced the character throughout the HBO series, and McFarlane said he remains the first person he would call for any future animated continuation.
McFarlane compared David’s connection to Spawn with Kevin Conroy’s (Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond) long association with Batman, adding that he now hears David’s voice when reading the character.
Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series) also recorded dialogue for the project as detective Twitch. For now, McFarlane appears to be waiting for the right opportunity to finish and release the continuation.
With the voices already recorded and much of the visual planning completed, McFarlane said the project could move forward quickly if a studio became interested in finishing