Last year, James Gunn and Peter Safran announced that a Green Lantern series was a part of their plan for a new DC Universe that spans film and TV shows. Now, HBO is making it official and ordering an eight-episode first season of Lanterns.
Damon Lindelof, who created HBO’s Watchmen series based upon the comic of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, will executive produce and write Lanterns alongside comic book scribe Tom King and showrunner Chris Mundy. Prior to this series, Mundy worked on Ozark and True Detective: Night Country. That’s fitting because the tone of Lanterns has been compared to True Detective by Gunn and Safran.
The Green Lantern Corps are the protectors of the DC Universe, and their will power allows them to create almost anything they can think of through their rings. The series will utilize two of the most well-known Green Lanterns in DC lore: Hal Jordan and John Stewart. But in this series, Stewart is a rookie Lantern who is paired with the veteran Jordan as they “investigate a murder in the American heartland.”
Ryan Reynolds portrayed Jordan in the 2011 Green Lantern film, but the characters were largely absent from the DC Extended Universe. Zack Snyder attempted to introduce Stewart in his Justice League cut for Max, but he was overruled by the studio.
There was a previous version of a Green Lantern series that was in development at Max that would have featured the original Lantern from Earth, Alan Scott, as well as Guy Gardner, and other Lanterns. That incarnation of the series was scrapped before Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios. However, Gunn did cast Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner in his upcoming Superman movie, which will be released on July 11, 2025.
Lanterns doesn’t currently have a release date or any cast members attached to the leading roles.