The latest entry in James Gunn’s new-look DC universe is a bona fide hit — and for good reason. Lanterns is a really, really good TV series. It’s an Earth-based murder mystery layered across two different time periods, unraveling a big alien story and the apparent death of a Green Lantern himself(!!).
Considering the Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds flopped spectacularly in 2011, it makes sense DC Studios would be delicate in its approach to reintroducing the IP to modern audiences. So instead of a big ol’ space adventure, we get a Earth-based cop story that would’ve been just as comfortable on a new season of HBO’s True Detective (minus the aliens, of course).
Critics and fans alike are going wild for the series, which casts Kyle Chandler as a veteran Hal Jordan, and Aaron Pierre as his replacement-in-training John Stewart. The tone is grounded and compelling, with just enough nods to the space-y corner of the DC universe to plant the seeds for how this world fits into the same reality as Superman and Supergirl.
But before all this? Warner Bros. was developing a different TV series set in the Green Lantern universe, from a creator who (at the time) was one of the biggest names in superhero TV: Greg Berlanti. If you’re a fan of DC shows, you’re almost certainly familiar with his resume. Berlanti was the architect of The CW’s hit Arrowverse, which ran for more than a decade and encompassed more than a half-dozen shows including Arrow, Supergirl, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Superman & Lois and many more.
For a generation of fans, those TV shows became the defining versions of many mainline DC heroes — and Berlanti was excited by the prospects of playing with a bigger budget at HBO Max for a series set within the Green Lantern universe. It was fast-tracked, and got pretty close to production before the Warner Bros./Discovery merger led the studio to rethink its approach to DC projects — which led to the rebooted James Gunn universe.
What would Berlanti’s canceled Green Lanterns series have been about?
At the time Berlanti was developing his project, Warner Bros. was still holding the characters of Hal Jordan and John Stewart in reserve for potential use in mainline DC film projects. So, Berlanti’s series was said to focus on lesser-known Lanterns from across the canon — such as Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz and Alan Scott.
Along with Berlanti, the project was being shepherded creatively by Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie), and Marc Guggenheim, who had worked extensively with Berlanti on the prior Arrowverse shows. Presumably, this new series would’ve been set in whatever iteration of the DC universe was going at that time, not tied back into the Arrowverse (which had famously not been able to feature Green Lanterns).
The concept seemed almost anthology-style, following the stories of different Lanterns across different eras. The first season was reportedly about Alan Scott, who became the first human Green Lantern back in the 1940s; as well as Guy Gardner as a Lantern in the 1980s. Casting was also locked, with Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) playing Gardner, and Jeremy Irvine as Scott.
Berlanti’s pitch was said to lean hard into the core of the Green Lantern space opera vibes, with big effects work and space adventures (as opposed to the more Earth-based story in Lanterns).
But… it was all put on hold after the merger, then Gunn came on board and started mapping out his decade-long plan for the new-look DC universe, and sadly, Berlanti’s series stayed on the shelf because it just didn’t fit the vision.
How Lanterns came out of that long development
So after all that, how did we end up with Lanterns?
Gunn knew the Green Lanterns were an untapped resource for any version of a DC universe, and made the property an immediate priority. He stuck with the HBO Max streaming idea, but went back to the drawing board for a new pitch.
The idea for this True Detective-style story came from Damon Lindelof (Lost), Chris Mundy and Tom King. Once they had this concept as the story to introduce the Lanterns to the new DC universe, the project was off and running.
We’re only a couple of episodes into the first season, but the hype is real. The show is a bona fide hit, it’s driving conversation and the pilot featured one of the biggest TV twists of the year. The creators have said in the past the concept could work for multiple seasons (whether that means more adventures with these Lanterns, or other Lanterns, remains to be seen).
But considering how much everyone is loving Season 1? I’d think we’ll definitely be seeing more of the Corps. in the DC universe moving forward.
I wasn't sure I was going to watch it but you just convinced me.