Green Lantern Series Officially Happening, Full Details
Green Lantern is heading for a series on HBO Max and will feature all different versions of the character. We have the details here.
Green Lantern fans have been eagerly awaiting a return for the character who’s gotten some short shrift when it comes to an on-screen portrayal. Sure, there have been some attempts at it, but none have gone particularly well and with the DC Universe it seems he’s been in something of a holding pattern. But with new initiatives from the studio and an expansion of the universe in both television and film, it seems Green Lantern is finally going get the proper treatment. According to the Film & Television Industry Alliance, there’s officially a new series coming down the pike for the Lantern Corps ring-bearers.
Details around this part of the announcement are sparse beyond just a general description of the major beats around the character and the world as well as some character notes. But this follows up the announcement during the fall about Green Lantern getting greenlit by HBO Max for a television series. This latest piece from the FTIA confirms that production is getting underway and we could see development really ramp up in the short term.
One cool thing about this FTIA description has to do with the character list. They are specific around including all iterations of Green Lantern we’ve seen before including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz and Alan Scott. It appears the show will focus on all of them, possibly at different points of taking on the Green Lantern powers. A notable omission from the list is Hal Jordan though so apparently we aren’t getting the entirety of the group coming to screen. This part was at least partially known, but is now apparently confirmed.
The Green Lantern series on HBO Max will focus on a few of the corps. Alan Scott was the first iteration of the character in the comic books and in later versions was portrayed as a gay man. The press release is quick to point out they will use this iteration of the character. Hal Jordan came next sequentially and was portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the 2011 movie version. Then there’s Guy Gardner who took a little crazier version of the character. They are later followed by Simon Baz, the first Muslim character introduced in the universe who’s later followed by Jessica Cruz, the first female and Latin American version of the character. This new series is going to have such a diverse and rich cast and is an awesome way to take the show considering how many Green Lanterns there are out there in the cosmos.
Leaving Hal Jordan out of the Green Lantern mix could be purposeful if DC is planning on bringing Ryan Reynolds back into the fold as the character in future movies. That is merely speculation at this point, but he did take on the character before. That movie was a critical and box office flop, though it’s hard to pin the issues on Reynolds’ performance. The script and effects were a mess, but the actor’s talents were still on display.
The new Green Lantern series will be headed by Marc Guggenheim who has plenty of work in the DC world already with Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Arrow. Meanwhile, Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) will handle the script. It’s setting up to be quite the show and should finally do justice to such an iconic character who’s seen tons of iterations.
