| Lanterns | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Based on | Characters fromDC |
| Showrunner | Chris Mundy |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Production location | Los Angeles |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
| Related | |
| DCU TV series | |
Lanterns is an upcoming American television series based onDC Comics featuring theGreen Lantern charactersHal Jordan andJohn Stewart. Produced byDC Studios andWarner Bros. Television, it will be the third television series in theDC Universe (DCU). It features Jordan and Stewart investigating a murder on Earth. Chris Mundy serves asshowrunner.
Kyle Chandler andAaron Pierre respectively star asHal Jordan andJohn Stewart, alongsideKelly Macdonald andNathan Fillion.Greg Berlanti began developing a Green Lantern television series by October 2019. AfterJames Gunn andPeter Safran became co-CEOs of DC Studios in October 2022, the series was redeveloped. It was announced in January 2023, along with itsdetective story style which was inspired by the seriesTrue Detective (2014–present) andSlow Horses (2022–present). Mundy's involvement alongside executive producersTom King andDamon Lindelof was confirmed in mid-2024 when the series was ordered byHBO.Slow Horses'sJames Hawes was hired to direct the first two episodes in October, when Chandler and Pierre were cast. Filming is taking place inLos Angeles from February to July 2025, withStephen Williams,Geeta Vasant Patel, andAlik Sakharov also directing.
Lanterns will premiere on HBO in early 2026 and will consist of eight episodes. It will be part of the DCU'sChapter One: Gods and Monsters.
Green Lanterns are intergalactic heroes who wearrings that give them extraordinary powers. The series follows experienced LanternHal Jordan and new recruitJohn Stewart as they investigate a murder in Nebraska, which leads them to darker mysteries and reckonings.[1]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TBA | James Hawes[2] | Chris Mundy &Tom King &Damon Lindelof[3] | 2026 (2026) |
Lanterns will consist of eight episodes, with Hawes also directing the second episode.[2]Stephen Williams,Geeta Vasant Patel, andAlik Sakharov are also directing episodes.[1]
Greg Berlanti, the producer of multipleDC Comics-based television series, announced that he was developing a series based on theGreen Lantern characters for the streaming serviceHBO Max in October 2019. Berlanti had previously co-written the filmGreen Lantern (2011).[19] In January 2020, he said the series would span several decades and tell two stories about Green Lanterns on Earth as well as a story about the villainous characterSinestro in space.[20] The series was officially picked up for a 10-episode season by HBO Max that October.Marc Guggenheim, who also co-wrote theGreen Lantern film, andSeth Grahame-Smith were revealed to be writing the series, with Grahame-Smith serving asshowrunner.[21] The series could not make use of the main Green Lanterns from the comic books,Hal Jordan andJohn Stewart, because they were being reserved forDC Extended Universe (DCEU) films.[22] Instead, the series was set to explore other Green Lanterns from the comics, includingGuy Gardner,Jessica Cruz,Simon Baz,Alan Scott,Kilowog, and new Green Lanterns created for the series.[21]
In April 2021, the series was revealed to be primarily focusing on Scott, a secretly gay FBI agent in 1941 who becomes Earth's first Green Lantern; and Gardner, an "embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism", alongside the half-alien Bree Jarta in 1984.Finn Wittrock was cast as Gardner after Berlanti received permission from producerRyan Murphy for the actor to prioritizeGreen Lantern over the planned second season of Murphy'sNetflix seriesRatched (2020). An actor was in negotiations to portray Scott. The series was said to be the most expensive in Berlanti's career, and was expected to begin filming later in 2021. Berlanti had been writing with Grahame-Smith and Guggenheim, who were all serving as executive producers alongsideGeoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, and David Katzenberg.[23] Pornsak Pichetshote, who previously served as an editor for DC'sVertigo Comics imprint and was an executive atDC Entertainment overseeing its television content, was later revealed to be part of thewriters' room as well.[24]Jeremy Irvine was revealed to be in talks to portray Scott in May,[25] and was officially cast soon after.[26]Lee Toland Krieger was hired to direct the first two episodes at the end of the month.[27] In August 2021, Wittrock said filming would begin at the end of the year or in early 2022.[28]
In April 2022,Discovery, Inc. and Warner Bros.' parent companyWarnerMedia merged to becomeWarner Bros. Discovery (WBD), led by president and CEODavid Zaslav. The new company was expected to restructureDC Entertainment and Zaslav began searching for an equivalent toMarvel Studios presidentKevin Feige to lead the new subsidiary.[29] In June, Irvine said there was no scheduled start date for filming the series and the production was working on "getting all the stars to align".[30] A month later, the series was reaffirmed to be in development despite the cancellation of other HBO Max and DC projects by WBD.[31] In October 2022, Grahame-Smith was revealed to have left the series, which was being redeveloped to focus on John Stewart.[32]James Gunn andPeter Safran were announced as the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the newly formedDC Studios at the end of that month.[33] A week after starting their new roles, the pair had begun developing an eight-to-ten-year plan for a newDC Universe (DCU) that would be a "soft reboot" of the DCEU.[34][35][36]
Gunn said in December 2022 thatGreen Lantern characters would be an important part of the new DCU.[37] On January 31, he and Safran unveiled the first projects from their DCU slate, which begins withChapter One: Gods and Monsters. The third television series in the slate wasLanterns, a new iteration of the long-in-development Green Lantern series. This version features the two best-known Green Lanterns,Hal Jordan andJohn Stewart, and Safran said it would be an Earth-baseddetective story rather than thespace opera that Berlanti had envisioned. He said the series would be an "HBO-quality event" in the style ofcrime drama seriesTrue Detective (2014–present),[38] andspy thriller seriesSlow Horses (2022–present).[1] The mystery that Jordan and Stewart investigate leads into the main storyline for the DCU, so the series was an important project for Gunn and Safran.[38]
Damon Lindelof was consulting on the series as a producer by January 2024, when it was said to be a priority project for the streaming serviceMax, the successor to HBO Max.[39][40] The following month, Chris Mundy was reported to be serving asshowrunner whileTom King, a member of the DC Studios writers' room, was also attached as a producer.[40] Gunn confirmed the involvement of Mundy, King, and Lindelof in May 2024.[3] King had originallypitched the concept for the series, and Mundy was hired by Gunn and Safran based on his work on the crime dramaOzark (2017–2022) as well as thefourth season ofTrue Detective (2024). Mundy and King began developing the series together, and enlisted Lindelof who created the DC Comics–based limited seriesWatchmen (2019). Lindelof agreed to join based on his love ofOzark and King's comic books.[1]
The series received an eight-episode straight-to-series order from Max's corporate sibling channelHBO in June 2024, when Mundy was confirmed as showrunner and executive producer.[41][42] The move to HBO was made after WBD decided to shift many of its planned big-budget Max series based on their own intellectual property to be HBO originals instead;Lanterns was expected to still stream on Max in addition to airing on HBO.[43] DC Studios was meeting with possible directors for the series'pilot by September, includingStephen Williams who worked with Lindelof onWatchmen.[44]James Hawes, who directed the first season ofSlow Horses, was hired to direct the first two episodes ofLanterns and serve as an executive producer the next month.[2] In February 2025, Williams was confirmed to be directing for the series, alongsideGeeta Vasant Patel andAlik Sakharov,[1] while Ron Schmidt joined as an executive producer the following month.[14] Safran said the series could continue beyond the first season.[45] Mundy said it would stand alone from other DC Studios projects and was designed to tell a complete story, but he hoped that it could expand to have "many seasons".[1]
Mundy, King, and Lindelof had written the pilot script andseries bible forLanterns by the end of May 2024, when a full writers' room was being put together for the series. Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson, andVanessa Baden are also writers on the series.[3] Britt-Gibson previously worked with Lindelof on the script foran untitledStar Wars film.[46] Writing for the series was completed by the start of filming in February 2025.[1]
The series does not adapt any specific storylines from the comics, but Mundy said it is "steeped" in the Green Lantern comic book lore. The main characters have Green Lanternrings and the associated powers, and other aspects of the lore is seen or referenced in the series. However, the series is more grounded than the comics. Mundy said he was excited to create "something really grounded inside this big, amazing mythology. From the beginning, all we talked about was, how can we take all the things we loved about the source material and turn it into a layered, human HBO drama?" He wanted the series to be accessible to audiences that did not know the comics history, but satisfying for those who do.[1] Gunn was excited for the series to have a different tone from the first DCU film,Superman (2025), despite that project also featuring a Green Lantern inGuy Gardner.[45]
In December 2022, Gunn ruled out the return of actorRyan Reynolds as Hal Jordan from theGreen Lantern film.[47]Nathan Fillion was cast as Guy Gardner forSuperman in July 2023,[48] and he was expected to co-star in the series by September 2024.[44][49] At that time,Josh Brolin was revealed to have been offered the role of Jordan at the end of August. The actor was looking for a new television role following the cancelation of his seriesOuter Range (2022–2024) and had previously played the DC Comics characterJonah Hex in the 2010 filmof the same name. Jordan was expected to be the gruff, older partner similar toDanny Glover'sRoger Murtaugh in theLethal Weapon films. DC Studios was looking to cast a younger, "fresh-faced" Black actor as John Stewart, who was expected to be in his 20s.[44][50]Matthew McConaughey andEwan McGregor were also in consideration for Jordan if a deal with Brolin could not be finalized.[51] Brolin passed on the role soon after his potential involvement was reported,[50] saying it "didn't work out",[52] and McConaughey was also not expected to be cast.[50]
Kyle Chandler was in negotiations to portray Jordan by the end of September,[53][54] whileAaron Pierre andStephan James were in the mix to portray Stewart.[55] Gunn had almost cast Pierre asAdam Warlock in hisMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) filmGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023),[56] and the actor previously portrayedDev-Em in the DC Comics-based seriesKrypton (2018–19).[57]Damson Idris was also on the shortlist to portray Stewart before a scheduling conflict arose.[55] Screen tests for Pierre and James were held in early October with Chandler.[2][56] On October 9, Pierre was cast as Stewart and Chandler was confirmed to be cast as Jordan.[4][5]Kelly Macdonald was cast in the main role of Sheriff Kerry at the end of the month.[6][8]Garret Dillahunt andPoorna Jagannathan were cast in the major recurring roles of William Macon and Zoe, respectively, in November,[8][9] andUlrich Thomsen was cast in January 2025 to recur in the series asSinestro.[10] In March,Nicole Ari Parker,Jasmine Cephas Jones,Sherman Augustus,J. Alphonse Nicholson, andJason Ritter were respectively cast in the recurring roles of Stewart's mother Bernadette, a younger version of Bernadette,[11][12] Stewart's father John Sr., a younger version of John Sr.,[15][16] and Billy Macon,[14] while Fillion was confirmed to be appearing.[7] The next month,Chris Coy andPaul Ben-Victor were respectively cast to guest star as "Waylon Sanders" and to recur as Antaan.[18][17]
Principal photography began during the week of February 17, 2025, inLos Angeles, California,[1][58] under theworking titleLatitude,[59] and was expected to continue until July 1.[60] Filming was previously expected to occur inAtlanta, Georgia, from January to June.[50] Gunn and Safran worked with WBD to get the tax credits and studio deals necessary to move the production from Atlanta, where Gunn filmedSuperman, to Los Angeles. Safran said they were thrilled to be filming in the city and supporting locals following theJanuary 2025 Southern California wildfires.[58] Mundy said Hawes's direction for the first two episodes captured the scope he was hoping for. Williams, Patel, and Sakharov direct additional episodes for the series.[1] Four episodes had been filmed by early May,[61] when Haweswrapped filming his episodes.[62] At that time, filming was about to begin on the third and fourth episodes. Ritter said that the story was "jumping all around".[61]
Lanterns is scheduled to air on HBO and stream on Max in early 2026,[43][63] and will consist of eight episodes.[41] Gunn said in November 2024 that he intended for the series to be released around the same time as the filmSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which was scheduled for release in June 2026.[64] It will be part of the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.[38]
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