DC fans were excited when HBO Max announced that a Green Lantern television series had been greenlit. After months of waiting, HBO Max has now confirmed that Ratched's Finn Wittrock has been cast as one of the show's leads, Guy Gardner.
Green Lantern will have a story that "spans decades and galaxies," beginning in 1941 with the first person to take up the title, a secretly gay FBI agent named Alan Scott, and in 1984 with the cocky Guy Gardner and half-alien Bree Jarta. They will be joined by many other Lanterns, including some comic book favorites.
Per Variety, Wittrock's Guy Gardner is described as a "hulking mass of masculinity" and as embodying 1980s patriotism while still being likable. He is usually depicted in the comics as being outspoken and often arrogant. Wittrock is the first actor to be cast in the series, with several other Lanterns and characters still to be announced. He has starred in numerous other projects including Netflix's Ratched, multiple seasons of American Horror Story, and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
HBO Max's Green Lantern series will be co-written and executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Seth Grahame-Smith, and Marc Guggenheim. Grahame-Smith will be acting as showrunner, having previously worked on projects such as The Lego Batman Movie and The Hard Times of RJ Berger. Berlanti, who is the name behind other popular DC series including The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, and his company Berlanti Productions will produce alongside Warner Bros. Television. This will be the first live-action Green Lantern television series since the character was introduced by DC Comics. There have been several references to Lanterns and the Green Lantern Corps throughout Berlanti's Arrowverse, but no characters who use the moniker have actually appeared. The first Green Lantern, Alan Scott, also briefly appeared in the popular 2000's television show Smallville.
There was a live-action Green Lantern film in 2011 starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, and Mark Strong. The film was generally poorly received by both fans and critics and has been considered one of the worst comic adaptations in recent memory. Justice League also features a brief appearance by Yalan Gur in a flashback, while further intended mentions of Green Lantern or the Corps in the film never made it to screen.
There have been many iterations of the Emerald Knight in animated TV shows and movies over the years, most of which are more fondly remembered than the 2011 live-action movie. Hopefully, HBO Max's Green Lantern can restore the reputation of live-action adaptations of the character and of the Corps.
Green Lantern will be released on HBO Max at a yet-to-be-announced date.
Source: Variety.