The new Green Lantern series is adding Emmy-winning Lost and Watchmen co-creator Damon Lindelof, joining James Gunn’s DC universe. The team will bring Lanterns to life alongside Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy and Tom King (Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow), Gunn revealed on social media on Saturday.
“Yes, it’s true. The Lanterns DCU series is putting together a crack team of writers, based on a wonderful pilot script and bible by Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof,” Gunn said. “A hearty welcome to Chris and @damonlindelof as they join the DC Studios family.”
A previous effort at a Green Lantern TV series was in the works before Gunn and Peter Safran took the reigns at DC. That version was created by Greg Berlanti in 2019, and would have starred Finn Wittrock. “Greg’s vision was more of a space opera that he wanted to do and our vision for it is a much more True Detective, terrestrial-based investigation story,” Safran said during a presentation in 2023.
Lanterns will focus on two of the best known members of the Green Lantern corps.: Hal Jordan (the test pilot first played on screen by Ryan Reynolds in 2011’s Green Lantern and John Stewart (an ex-marine and one of DC’s first Black superheroes), who investigate a mystery that Safran said “plays a really big role leading us into the main story that we’re telling across our film and television.”
Gunn has already said that the show’s central mystery will feed into the rest of Chapter One: Gods & Monsters of the DCU slate.
Gunn cast his buddy, Nathan Fillion, as the Guy Gardner Green Lantern in his upcoming Superman movie starring David Corenswet as the new Man of Steel. We don’t know if Guy will also be one of the Lanterns. Gunn did post “This is the story of a couple of Green Lanterns, John Stewart and Hal Jordan, and we have a few other Lanterns peppered in there.”
He also confirmed the Green Lantern suits will use practical effects and they won’t be CGI like was used in the 2011 Green Lantern. He posted this image from the comics with the announcement:
Nathan Fillion recently was interviewed about playing Guy Gardner and what draws him to the character.
“The reality is that people have flaws. We all have quirks. We all have vulnerabilities. You could have the most wonderful family, but be like, ‘Oh, my God, my dad drives me nuts. He’s got this one thing.’ Everybody’s got something, and I love to lean into those faults and flaws,” he said. “It’s what makes people real and what allows audiences to relate, because we all know what that is. We all have our own. We witness it in other people. So, for a guy who likes to play flaws and flawed people, Guy Gardner is a gold mine.”
Mundy steered Ozark for its entire Emmy-winning run on Netflix and recently served as an executive producer on True Detective: Night Country. Maybe he will help bring the detective elements.
This is James Gunn’s video announcement from last year. It doesn’t talk about Lanterns, but is a good intro to his vision for DCU:
David Raiklen wrote, directed and scored his first film at age 9. He began studying keyboard and composing at age 5. He attended, then taught at UCLA, USC and CalArts. Among his teachers are John Williams and Mel Powel.
He has worked for Fox, Disney and Sprint. David has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2004 American Music Center Award. Dr. Raiklen has composed music and sound design for theater (Death and the Maiden), dance (Russian Ballet), television (Sing Me a Story), cell phone (Spacey Movie), museums (Museum of Tolerance), concert (Violin Sonata ), and film (Appalachian Trail).
His compositions have been performed at the Hollywood Bowl and the first Disney Hall. David Raiken is also host of a successful radio program, Classical Fan Club.
