Exclusive: Todd McFarlane says Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner are still attached to the Spawn reboot, which may be helped by Joker 2
Sixteen years have passed since Spawn creator Todd McFarlane announced he was going to make sure a new Spawn movie was going to be made, even if he had to produce, direct, and finance it himself. Blumhouse Productions has been helping McFarlane develop the project since 2017, and even though he had written a script himself, they’ve also hired multiple screenwriters to do further work on the script, most recently the trio of Scott Silver (Joker), Malcolm Spellman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), and Matthew Mixom (Yesterday Was Everything). Jamie Foxx has been attached to play Spawn in the new film since 2018, with Jeremy Renner on board to play homicide detective Maximilian “Twitch” Williams III. JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols recently had the chance to talk to McFarlane, and while that EXCLUSIVE interview will be available to watch here on JoBlo.com soon, there is a bit of information we wanted to share before the full interview goes up: while talking to Tyler, McFarlane confirmed that Foxx and Renner are still attached to the Spawn reboot, and also said that he thinks the October release of the Joker sequel Joker: Folie a Deux will help Spawn get rolling.
About Foxx and Renner’s involvement, Renner said, “Until somebody says otherwise (they’re still attached). 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.“
As for how Joker: Folie a Deux could help Spawn; McFarlane believes that film will make studios more willing to take on R-rated movies based on comic books. Plus, it helps that Scott Silver is a writer on both of these projects. As McFarlane put it, “What does Scott [Silver] want to do next? And depending on whether we sold Spawn prior to that or we sell it the Monday after Joker 2 comes out, you know what we all want to do and Scott is attached to it and you guys are all wondering, right? It’s this thing called Spawn.“
Blumhouse founder Jason Blum has said he’s hoping Spawn will be released sometime in 2025. A while back, we heard the movie might focus on 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. But that was several years ago, so the story could be completely different by this point.
Spawn previously received a feature film adaptation in 1997, but that movie didn’t go over very well. There was a well regarded animated series that ran for three seasons – and McFarlane has previously said he’s hoping to get some new animated Spawn projects off the ground.
Are you hoping to see the Spawn reboot make it into production soon? Are you glad to hear that Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner are still attached, and do you agree that Joker: Folie a Deux having a successful release could be beneficial for this project? Share your thoughts on Spawn by leaving a comment below.
