It’s no secret that 2011’s Green Lantern movie was a disappointment both critically and at the box office, and Ryan Reynolds has no problem reminding us about it. But the time is soon approaching for this property to get a shot at live-action redemption, as Lanterns is one of the upcoming DC TV shows that will be set in the DC Universe continuity. I’ll admit, though, I’ve been concerned about this Green Lantern for several reasons, the biggest being how it’s going to feel “grounded.” However, after hear DC Studios co-head James Gunn’s latest update on the DCU series, I am a little more intrigued by what it will have to offer.
Lanterns was among the many topics of conversation that Gunn, who is co-president of DC Studios with producer Peter Safran, discussed on Happy Sad Confused, with others including the premiere of Creature Commandos to those who have a Max subscription, as well as why he thinks Robert Pattinson’s Batman is better off in the Elseworlds space. When host Josh Horowitz inquired about exactly how grounded this Green Lantern show will be, Gunn responded:
Well, I don’t want to give away all that stuff. I think grounded — just like, if Green Lanterns were real, what the fuck would they be and how would they be? I was thinking about it the other morning… the thing that keeps getting out is that it’s a terrestrial story. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, because it’s on Earth, the story takes place on Earth.’ Everybody is like, ‘We don’t want to see [Earth], they’re from outer space, they fly with rings. We don’t want to see it’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, they’re on Earth for the story, like most Green Lantern stories.’ It’s terrestrial-bound. It’s not in outer space. We don’t have a thousand Green Lanterns, all that stuff. It’s a grounded story that’s being told through another lens in a way that’s really… it’s an HBO series, and it’s going to be an HBO series. I’m happy with that and I love the scripts.
In case you haven’t been following along with the Lanterns news cycle, the series follows Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, and John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre, investigating a murder in the American heartland. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased with those castings and am sure the other actors, including Boardwalk Empire alum Kelly McDonald and Garrett Dillahunt from Fear the Walking Dead, will perform their roles admirably. Ozark’s Chris Mundy is also serving as showrunner, and writing and executive producing alongside Damon Lindelof and Tom King, the latter of whom is especially jazzed about Chandler and Pierre’s castings.
There’s obviously no shortage of talent attached to Lanterns, but what’s concerned me and many other Green Lantern fans is how, as James Gunn laid out, the story is being confined to Earth. This is one of DC’s main cosmic properties, as the Green Lantern Corps is comprised of beings from all over the universe who are recruited to protect the planets within their sectors. It feels weird to eschew all those cosmic elements, limit Lanterns to just one planet, and possibly only see Hal and John as the only two Green Lanterns.
And yet, more often than not, HBO nails it with original programming, and because is so knowledgeable about DC lore, I can’t bring myself to believe he’d greenlight (pun intended) a Green Lantern project that didn’t stay faithful to the spirit of the source material. That’s not to say all my concerns about Lanterns are going away, but this latest statement from Gunn has me more intrigued to see what kind of product is being put together. I’m hopeful that even though this isn’t necessarily the kind of Green Lantern TV show I would have made, I’ll still end up enjoying it.
Lanterns is expected to premiere on HBO sometime in 2026, the same year that the upcoming DC movie Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comes out. As mentioned earlier, Creature Commandos has begun its run, and Superman, which James Gunn wrote and directed, flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.
