HBO's Lanterns Characters, Plot, Showrunner, Writers And More Details

You'd think one of DC's most famous heroes would have an easy time leaping from the comic book page to the big screen, but in the case of Green Lantern, you'd be wrong. For example, the notorious 2011 Ryan Reynolds movie — focusing on the Hal Jordan version of the character — is often hailed as one of the very worst superhero films ever made. 

However, in 2019, it was announced the green-clad crimefighter would get a second lease on life with the news of a Green Lantern TV series. We got a lot of promises about this show (e.g. that it would be the "biggest DC show ever made," that it would focus on many Lanterns), but while the series is still moving forward, it's received a pretty major overhaul over the last few years. So what changes can we expect to see? Read on for everything we know about the Green Lantern HBO series, aka "Lanterns."

HBO's Green Lantern series has been a slow-moving beast. The show was first reported on in 2019, and we're assuming the series' progress was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive shutdowns that occurred in 2020. It took quite a while for us to get another update on the show's progress, with fans tapping their collective toe until October 2022. That's when we learned the series' original producer, Greg Berlanti, was out, and his vision of the show was being completely retooled.

With Berlanti gone, the series is now being overseen by DCU heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. They've also given the series its new name: "Lanterns." However, the show experienced another big change in June 2024. Originally, it was meant to head straight to streaming, debuting on Max. Now, "Lanterns" will premiere on HBO proper before heading over to its online counterpart. As for when we'll actually see the Lanterns in action, James Gunn has said that the series will debut sometime after "Superman: Legacy" is released, and that film is flying into theaters on July 11, 2025. When it arrives, it'll run for eight green and glorious episodes.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the original incarnation of Max's Green Lantern series under Greg Berlanti (the architect behind the Arrowverse) would've focused on at least three different Lanterns — Guy Gardner, Alan Scott, and Sojourner Mullein — in three different timelines. However, they wouldn't have been the only heroes, as we would've seen many of the other members of the Green Lantern Corp., including Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz, and Kilowog, as well as Sinestro.

The show would've reportedly gone to space and would've had a budget of $120 million, resulting in Greg Berlanti calling it the "biggest DC show ever made." However, now that the DCU has parted ways with Berlanti and is overhauling the series, the focus has completely shifted. Now, "Lanterns" will focus on just two of the ring-wielding protagonists — John Stewart and Hal Jordan. 

With these two heroes working together, DCU heads Peter Safran and James Gunn plan on emulating a very popular police procedural. "[Greg Berlanti's] vision was more of a space opera that he wanted to do," Safran explained back in January 2023 via the official DC blog. "Our vision for this is very much in the vein of 'True Detective.'" Gunn went on to elaborate, saying, "We find this ancient horror on Earth, and these guys are basically supercops on 'Precinct Earth.'" We got a little more info on this "True Detective"-style plot in June 2024, when Deadline reported the story would involve the "two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland."

During the original incarnation of the series — before James Gunn and Peter Safran were put in charge of the DCU — actors Finn Witrock and Jeremy Irvine had signed onto the project. Wittrock is best known for playing in movies like "Unbroken" and TV series like "Ratched" and "American Horror Story," and he would've starred in the Green Lantern series as Guy Gardner. The role of Alan Scott would've gone to Jeremy Irvine, who made his feature film debut in Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" and went on to star in projects like "Great Expectations" and "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again."

Of course, we're getting a very different version of the DC show now, and as for who'll play John Stewart or Hal Jordan, there have been no casting developments on that front yet. Will the showrunners choose established stars to fill those green boots? Or will this be a huge moment for some up-and-coming actors to shine? One thing we know for sure is that these TV stars will eventually make the jump to the big screen, with Peter Safran explaining during a January 2023 presentation, "Anyone we cast as John Stewart and Hal Jordan, they will then cross over into the movie side of things."

On that note, it was announced in July 2023 that Nathan Fillion would be playing Guy Gardner in James Gunn's "Superman Legacy." When asked about this by fans on Threads, Gunn said that Fillion would portray Guy "in all parts of the DCU." While that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be showing up in "Lanterns," we have a hunch that the "Rookie" star will at least have a cameo in the upcoming DC series (but that's just a guess on our part).

Originally, Seth Grahame-Smith was supposed to serve as showrunner on Greg Berlanti's version of "Lanterns," but after the creative overhaul, Grahame-Smith was replaced with Chris Mundy. A TV veteran, Mundy was behind one of the most popular shows in Netflix history, the Jason Bateman drug drama "Ozark." Plus, he's also worked on crime dramas such as "Criminal Minds" and "True Detective" Season 4, which makes him a perfect fit for the superhero murder mystery that "Lanterns" appears to be.

In order to assist Mundy in bringing "Lanterns" to the HBO screen, James James Gunn announced on Instagram that he was assembling "a crack team of writers," which includes Damon Lindelof and Tom King. Together, Mundy, Lindelof, and King wrote the show's pilot episode and developed the bible for the series — the deep-dive outline for the series' characters, plotlines, etc.

If you're a fan of prestige TV, then you've definitely heard of Lindelof (pictured). He's one of the most influential writers in recent TV memory, serving as one of the co-showrunners on ABC's wildly popular sci-fi/fantasy series "Lost." Lindelof also created the dark post-apocalyptic series "The Leftovers," the bizarro religious show "Mrs. Davis," and HBO's universally acclaimed "Watchmen." 

As for Tom King, he's been a major player in both the DCU and DC comics. He wrote the series that inspired the upcoming "Supergirl" movie, he's given life to Batman and Mister Miracle comics, and he also wrote the "The Vision" for DC rival Marvel, which served as a huge inspiration for Disney+ series "WandaVision." In addition to these big three announced by Gunn, it's also been reported that the writers' room will include Breannah Gibson of "The Penguin," Vanessa Baden Kelly of "Animal Kingdom," and Justin H. Britt-Gibson of "The Strain."