The Green Lantern TV series for HBO Max is still alive, although it is being overhauled from the ground up. Seth Grahame-Smith, who was attached to write and serve as showrunner, has chosen to exit the project, however, Berlanti Productions, which was responsible for the DC programs on The CW remains attached.
Reportedly, this Green Lantern series is also shifting its focus. Not a lot of information about it was known in the first place, but it sounded like an anthology that would shift its focus to various GLs. Jeremy Irvine was cast as Alan Scott and Finn Wittrock was set to play Guy Gardner. Now it appears the show will focus on John Stewart, who was previously set to be one of the two leads in a Green Lantern Corps movie along with Hal Jordan.
DC now seems to be getting behind John Stewart as he is one of their first Black superheroes, having debuted in Green Lantern #85 in 1971, and remains one of the publisher’s leading minority characters. Aldis Hodge, who plays Hawkman in Black Adam, recently voiced Stewart in the direct-to-video animated movie Green Lantern: Beware My Power.
Previously, the Green Lantern show was going to span decades, focusing on Alan Scott as a closeted gay FBI agent in 1941, and the arrogant Guy Gardner in the present as well as a newer character, Bree Jarta, whose casting was not announced. Now that the series is shifting its focus to John Stewart, it’s not clear if these other characters will be eliminated or if their roles will just be minimized.
In addition to producing the DC shows on The WB, including The Flash which is going into its ninth and final season, and the completed Arrow, Black Lightning, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman, as well as Stargirl which is not connected, Berlanti Productions is also behind HBO Max’s Titans and Doom Patrol.
There have been a lot of shakeups at HBO Max since Discovery bought out Warner Bros. The almost-completed Batgirl movie and the anthology series Strange Adventures were scrapped and the Blue Beetle movie was upped to a theatrical release.
While this massive change to Green Lantern might sound negative, at least it’s still in the works. There’s no indication of when it will be released, unfortunately.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to this series?
