James Gunn has made his announcement of the first phase of DC Studios movie and television projects, and once again the HBO Max series is being refocused. Rather than jump to the big screen, both Hal Jordan and John Stewart will be the focus of Lanterns. The new show will tie into the larger story being weaved across the DC Studios projects, with phase one being referred to as “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters”. Lanterns is one of ten projects that will make up the initial wave of DC Studios slate and replaces the Greg Berlanti show that was already in development. Here’s the quote from today’s announcement and the video released to accompany today’s announcements.
It’s a huge HBO-quality TV event. It’s already in development, and our vision for this is very much in the vein of ‘True Detective,’” Safran teased. “It’s terrestrial-based, it’s got two of our favorite Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, star[ring] in a ‘True Detective’-type mystery and it plays a really big role leading into the main story that we’re telling across our film and television.
While today’s announcement did not include anything regarding the release date of the show or casting information, both James Gunn and Peter Safran have teased that they’ve been talking to actors about the show. They were also quick to state that actors from these projects would be used on both the big screen and tv projects much in the way that John Cena has in his role as Peacemaker.
Thanks to our buddy Chad Bokelman of The Lanterncast, here’s a transcript of what Gunn had to say about Lanterns:
The next thing is a big premiere HBO television series called “Lanterns”. This is a story of a couple of Green Lanterns John Stewart & Hal Jordan…and we have a few other Lanterns peppered in there, but this is really a terrestrial-based TV show which is almost like True Detective with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops, watching over precinct Earth. In it, they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our larger story of the DCU.
This is an exciting direction. A detective story is going to fit very well I think. I was really hoping for a space faring adventure with a few different lanterns but I’m still stoked.
This is perfect – feels like they’re leaning into the old school era of creepy story Hal that was so prevalent in the Silver Age run from about #50-70, the same period Morrison took big inspiration from.
I hope they don’t dumb down Stewart to a stereotypical marine again instead of a socially aware, multilayered architect, but I’m not holding my breath.
Either way a Hal and John GL mystery series sounds like the perfect way to reintroduce GLs to the cinemas! The whole slate looks fun so far. DCU is in good hands!