Lanterns, the long-awaited Green Lantern series, has officially been given an eight-episode, straight-to-series order by HBO, Warner Bros. Television, and DC Studios. Chris Mundy (True Detective: Night Country) will serve as showrunner and executive producer and will co-write the series alongside Damon Lindelof (The Leftovers) and Tom King (Supergirl), who will also executive produce.
The series “follows new recruit John Stewart and Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.” I can’t say I expected the first major live-action Green Lantern project in over a decade to involve an earth-based murder mystery, but that said, I am down for whatever Mundy, Lindelof, and King are cooking up. Lanterns was originally set to debut as a Max Original series, but all of the studio’s big-budget, tentpole IP projects have now been moved to HBO.
Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, said: “We are elated to be reuniting with both Chris Mundy and Damon Lindelof as they partner with Tom for this fresh take on DC’s ‘Green Lantern.’ As part of James and Peter’s vision for the DC Universe, this first new live action series will mark an exciting new era.“
In a joint statement, James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios, added: “We’re thrilled to bring this seminal DC title to HBO with Chris, Damon and Tom at the helm. John Stewart and Hal Jordan are two of DC’s most compelling characters, and LANTERNS brings them to life in an original detective story that is a foundational part of the unified DCU we’re launching next summer with ‘Superman.’“
A different Green Lantern series had been in development for years but had trouble moving forward. Penned by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Seth Grahame-Smith, the series was slated to tell a story “spanning decades and galaxies, beginning on Earth in 1941 with the very first Green Lantern, secretly gay FBI agent Alan Scott, and 1984, with cocky alpha male Guy Gardner and half-alien Bree Jarta. They’ll be joined by a multitude of other Lanterns — from comic book favorites to never-before-seen heroes.” Jeremy Irvine (Treadstone) was set to as Alan Scott alongside Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story) as Guy Gardner, but the project wound up being completely redeveloped