Todd McFarlane Says Spawn Reboot Won’t Be an Origin Story

Todd McFarlane has said that his film reboot of Spawn will not be an origin story. McFarlane, who is writing and directing the film, told ComicBook.com that the film won’t explore the backstory of Spawn and how Al Simmons becomes the titular demonic entity.

“Nope,” McFarlane said. “Nope. Nope. I’m not interested in the origin story. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I’ve seen too many movies that spend way too much time for the set up.”

McFarlane said that he wants the film to instead focus on the action and forward-going story, leaving some mystery into the nature of Spawn. He said, “Given A Quiet Place came out and it starts with day 89, I love it. I love it. It didn’t go in any depth what happened in those first 88 days. I love it. So either you just go for the ride, or you don’t.”

He pointed to Wolverine as an example where mystery can help a character, saying, “Why do you think Wolverine was so popular? Because we didn’t know who he was for a long, long time. And that’s what made him cool. And you can argue that it’s like he became a little bit less cool, other than he’s Canadian, I don’t mind, but he became a little less cool once you actually gave the origin away, right? So, I sort of liked him when he was like a mystery.”

Jamie Foxx is set to play the title role in the film, which Blumhouse is producing.