DC’s Lanterns – All We Know About The Green Lantern Live-Action Series
Lanterns is a newly announced Green Lantern series in the DC Cinematic Universe that will be a detective show about the character.
Writer and director James Gunn became an integral part of the future of DC Studios movies and television projects when he signed on as co-chairman and co-CEO of the entertainment company recently. Alongside producer Peter Safran, the two men have laid out a plan this week about the future of well-known superheroes and villains under the DC umbrella. The DC Universe will look much different going forward, with the Green Lantern television series Lanterns leading the way.
Along with a plethora of projects lined up for the next few years, the DC Universe will eventually debut Lanterns for television audiences to stream. This Green Lantern live-action series is a notable inclusion along with stories about Wonder Woman’s birthplace, lesser-known superheroes of the 1980s, and even more depictions of Superman and Batman’s trusted allies. Here is all we know about the new DC Universe television show, Lanterns.
LANTERNS WILL FEATURE MORE THAN ONE GREEN LANTERN FROM DC COMICS
Green Lantern is an interesting character, as the superhero is one of the most recognizable of any of the DC Comics personas. Yet, the 2011 film adaptation with Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan never picked up the steam that the character deserved. Rotten Tomatoes currently ranks Green Lantern with a 26 percent on its Tomatometer and a 45 percent Audience Score.
While Green Lantern ended up being a box office bomb in 2011, the new DC Universe television series Lanterns is shaping up to break free of Reynolds’ interpretation of the role.
For starters, the show will be available for streaming and will feature at least two incarnations of the Green Lantern character. In his announcement this week, James Gunn confirmed that Lanterns will showcase the beloved Hal Jordan and John Stewart as part of the new series.
Hal Jordan was also portrayed on television in the short-lived 1979 series Legends of the Superheroes by actor Howard Murphy. According to SlashFilm, director Zack Snyder had plans to feature a black Green Lantern in Justice League, but that never came to fruition. Since the black character of John Stewart has yet to have a live-action debut, fans will be delighted to finally see the popular superhero come to life.
JAMES GUNN COMPARED THIS GREEN LANTERN SERIES TO TRUE DETECTIVE
Comparing new television shows to popular content of the past is par for the course for a Hollywood producer. James Gunn is no different, as he has compared Lanterns to HBO’s True Detective, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Even though True Detective is presented as an anthology crime drama with a different cast each season, Lanterns will be slightly different.
Lanterns will borrow from the detective genre by depicting Hal Jordan and John Stewart as intergalactic police officers. The two characters will be tasked with investigating a crime that occurs on Earth, which might bring them together with other DC characters in overlapping storylines.
The goal is to release this crime story via a streaming service like HBO Max, although the platform’s name might be different before the show’s premiere, depending on changes at Warner Bros. Discovery.
THERE IS NO CONFIRMED CAST FOR THE LIVE-ACTION SERIES
Though it would make for some great headlines if actor Ryan Reynolds returned to the part of Hal Jordan in Lanterns, it is unlikely the Deadpool actor would cross back over to DC Studios any time soon. At this time, no casting announcements have been made public for the new television show. Additionally, James Gunn and Peter Safran have yet to disclose who might end up writing or directing the series.
THIS WILL REPLACE THE OTHER GREEN LANTERN SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT
The Green Lantern comic books are some of the most popular of all of the DC Comics, primarily because multiple characters have embodied the superhero throughout its run. Several iterations of the character have been rumored to be making their way to television or film, but that hasn’t happened for many of them until now.
Producer Greg Berlanti has been working on a new live-action series featuring Green Lantern as the main character for quite some time, but that may no longer be the case.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lanterns will replace Berlanti’s Green Lantern series after months of speculation about Berlanti’s role within DC Studios. The writer and producer is responsible for many of The CW shows of the past decade, including Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Riverdale, and Superman & Lois. His Green Lantern series was rumored to be in development at HBO Max starring Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine as versions of Green Lantern.
Many television shows within the Arrowverse on The CW are seeing their final seasons arrive this year. Outside of those like The Flash and Supergirl that have ties to DC Comics, Riverdale will also be airing its series finale in 2023.
Greg Berlanti also co-produced 2011’s Green Lantern, so he has been involved in DC Comics content and will most likely be consulted by James Gunn and Peter Safran for future projects.
IT IS JUST ONE OF MANY DC CINEMATIC UNIVERSE PROJECTS
Along with Lanterns, James Gunn gave fans something to look forward to with his announcement of a slew of movies and television shows directly from DC Studios. While most of these projects will not see the light of day for a couple of years, it’s a step in a different direction for the DC Universe after the box office bomb of Black Adam last year.
Among the highlights of the movies that will soon be part of the DC Universe is Superman: Legacy, The Authority, The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and Swamp Thing. On the television side, fans of DC Comics will be happy to know that their favorite Director of The Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller, will feature prominently in the Viola Davis-led series Waller coming to HBO Max.
Other television shows announced as part of the DC Universe reset will be Booster Gold, Paradise Lost, and the animated show Creature Commandos. Paradise Lost will be set in Wonder Woman’s birthplace of Themyscira in a prequel series that will showcase the strength of the female-dominated island.
