James Gunn’s DC Universe is quickly shaping up with the announcement of Lanterns, an upcoming HBO series based on the iconic Green Lantern Corp.
Executive produced by showrunner Chris Mundy and written by Mundy and fellow executive producers Damon Lindelof (of Watchmen fame) and Tom King, the Warner Bros. Television/DC Studios series Lanterns will bring Earth and the universe together in sprawling crime drama. Even better: one of the Green Lanterns leading the series is John Stewart, the first Black superhero in DC Comics. According to the logline, the series will follow “new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.”
HBO and Max Content CEO and chairman Casey Bloys praised the series, saying in a statement, “We are elated to be reuniting with both Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof as they partner with Tom for this fresh take on DC’s Green Lantern. As part of James and Peter’s vision for the DC Universe, this first new live action series will mark an exciting new era.”
Gunn and Peter Safran, who serve as the co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios, also said the series will be a key part in the DCU.
“We’re thrilled to bring this seminal DC title to HBO with Chris, Damon and Tom at the helm. John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and Lanterns brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we’re launching next summer with ‘Superman.'”
Even though it seems like Gunn’s unified DC universe is ready to fire on all cylinders, the road to this point has been arduous. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Max (then called HBO Max) was trying to develop a Green Lantern show for five years, well before Gunn came aboard. The earliest iterations of a Green Lantern series idea came from CW’s go-to DC guy Greg Berlanti, who created the Arrow-verse of programming. With one of the writers from 2011’s Green Lantern film on board along with Seth Grahame Smith as a writer and showrunner, the series got as far as casting Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine as Lanterns Corp. members Guy Gardner and Alan Scott.
But then the show got completely gutted and rewritten, focusing more on John Stewart instead. Then, when Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and Safran to oversee DC Studios, everything came to a halt to give room for what Gunn and Safran would create. It was once primed for Max, but per a recent announcement, all big-budget projects moving forward will be HBO series as opposed to Max.
Lanterns is the result of this long gestation period. Seeing how enthusiastic Gunn has been about overseeing the DCU, and knowing how desperate Warner Bros. Discovery has been to finally have their own competitive product to put against Marvel Studios, Lanterns will serve as a teaser for fans as to what to expect from the newly revamped cinematic universe, as well as a building block for Gunn and Safran’s vision.
