HBO Max had plans for a very different Green Lantern series before James Gunn’s DC Universe took shape. The streamer had very different plans for its Green Lantern project, but it was eventually canceled.
Gunn’s DCU has now completed Season 1 of Lanterns with eight episodes, introducing Hal Jordan and John Stewart as its central Green Lanterns. In the show, Kyle Chandler plays Hal Jordan, while Aaron Pierre portrays John Stewart. Nathan Fillion also appears as Guy Gardner, following his DCU debut in Superman.
Marc Guggenheim, who co-created Arrow and served as one of the key executive producers behind The CW’s Arrowverse, has shared a first look at the canceled live-action Green Lantern series. The series was originally planned to air on HBO Max with eight episodes before being scrapped.
On Substack, Guggenheim shared multiple pieces of concept art from the canceled project, giving fans a glimpse at what the series could have looked like. The first concept art features several Green Lantern characters planned for Season 1, including Finn Wittrock’s Guy Gardner and other members of the Corps. The artwork was intended for the pilot’s opening sequence and shows the Green Lanterns fighting unidentified aliens.
The second image reveals an early design for Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern costume, created by Gina DeDomenico from a design by Laura Jean Shannon. The team planned to modify it slightly to reflect Gardner’s Justice League International look. See it below.
The third image introduces Bree Jarta, a new character created specifically for HBO Max’s Green Lantern. Guggenheim confirmed that she was not Jo Mullein and that her costume was designed by Laura Jean Shannon. See it below.
‘Green Lantern’ Canceled Series Would Have Spanned Two Time Periods
Jeremy Irvine was cast as Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern, before the HBO Max series was canceled. Alan’s story was set in 1941 and would have followed him as a secretly gay FBI agent.
The show was planned across two time periods, with the Manhunters as the main villains. The 1984 storyline would have followed Guy Gardner and Bree Jarta. Other Green Lantern characters included Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Kilowog, and Sinestro.
Guggenheim said, “I have to reach into my memory to recall other bits of trivia like that, but I do remember that our original take took place in two time periods and had the Manhunters as the primary villains and my original title pitch was Emerald Knights.”
Seth Grahame-Smith was tapped as the showrunner, with Guggenheim working in the writers’ room. In October 2022, Grahame-Smith left Green Lantern. After that, HBO Max and Warner Bros. TV planned to change the show and focus on John Stewart. Berlanti stayed on as an executive producer, but the project stopped moving forward after DC Studios was announced, with James Gunn and Peter Safran becoming co-CEOs.
‘Lanterns’ Season 2 Will Continue as an Earth-Based Story, Chris Mundy Says
DC Studios’ Lanterns Season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max, while Season 2 is already in development. The Season 2 writers’ room has begun, with Christopher Cantwell, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Zack Whedon, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, and Nakkiah Lui working under showrunner Chris Mundy.
Mundy says Lanterns Season 2 will be “an Earth-based story that we continue.”
“We won’t be back in Rushville, unless something crazy happens every 10 years. You can leave the planet. Our idea was just to ground everything and layer on the other layers. Now we can expand.”
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