Green Lantern will shine his light prominently on HBO Max.
The cable network has greenlit the proposed TV series based on DC’s emerald crusaders known as The Green Lantern Corps. Chief among characters featured will be both human and alien. We will see Golden Age GL Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, and newcomers Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. Popular Corps trainer Kilowog and rogue Lantern Sinestro will also be featured. However, the popular Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart will not be featured in the series for undisclosed reason. Speculation indicates they are being reserved for possible film treatment down the road.
Green Lantern – What’s Happened Before And Who’s Who?
The previous live-action treatment was 2011 treatment starring Ryan Reynolds and executive produced by Geoff Johns. Johns infamously resurrected Hal Jordan in the comics and redefined the essence of the mythos to a point of prominence. However, what felt like a sure thing was a box office bomb. It currently holds a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Alan Scott was the first to don the GL ring during the Golden Age of Comics. After a lengthy absence following Flashpoint, and a failed reboot during the New 52, Johns has brought him back following his Doomsday Clock miniseries. However, the change in his sexual orientation to LGBT from his New 52 incarnation remains for diversity sake. Guy Gardner, meanwhile, is known for being a passed over candidate for Abin Sur’s ring that went to Hal Jordan and is the alpha male of the Corps. Jessica and Simon were characters created during the New 52 and have starred in their own series together. While Jessica struggles with an anxiety disorder, Simon is a former criminal who obtained the ring following Hal’s temporary disappearance.
Sinestro, best known as Hal Jordan’s arch-nemesis in the comics, is a former archaeologist on his home world of Korugar until a dying Lantern loans him his ring to fend off an attack. However, Sinestro delays giving the ring back to the Lantern until he dies of his injuries. This corruption climaxes in his ruling Korugar as a dictator until exposure by Jordan leads to banishment to the antimatter dimension of Qward. He soon forges a ring from the power of fear and in modern times founds the yellow-clad antithesis to the Lanterns known as The Sinestro Corps. Geoff Johns cleverly reimagined Sinestro during his run as a political villain with layers. He appeared in the 2011 film alongside Reynolds, played by Mark Strong.
Kilowog is the resident Corps trainer. Regarding new recruits as his trademark “Poozers,” this behemoth GL is the only survivor of his home planet, Bolovax Vik. Having lost a wife and children, Kilowog carries pathos in his background. It was he who trained Jordan, who soon became one of his closest friends. He also appeared in the 2011 film as a CGI character voiced by the late Michael Clarke Duncan.
The series will be co-written and produced by Marc Guggenhiem (Arrow) and Seth Grahme-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) and joins other DC properties that have migrated from the mothballed DC Universe network. Given the recent CW adaptation of Crisis On Infinite Earths validated the reality established in the Ryan Reynolds film as Earth-812, it remains to be seen if this will take place in that reality or an original dimension.
No casting has been announced as of yet.