‘A Strange Thing to Say’: James Gunn Teases the DCU’s Green Lantern Series
Ahead of its 2025 production start, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has shared new details about Lanterns. The hotly-anticipated HBO series will be part of the DC Universe’s Chapter 1 slate.
During a presentation of DC’s upcoming projects at New York Comic Con 2024 (via Collider), Gunn revealed that Lanterns will be more grounded than fans may be expecting for a show about an intergalactic law enforcement agency. “When we first started the DCU, the first couple of weeks of heading this out, we got together with a group of writers, and Tom King was one of those writers, and we were in this room, and we came up with sort of this concept for Lanterns,” Gunn explained. “It’s a much more it’s a very grounded series, a very real series, which is a strange thing to say about a Green Lanterns show. But it’s going to be something like nobody’s ever seen before.”
Besides King, the creative team for Lanterns includes Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) and Chris Mundy (Ozark), with the latter set to also serve as showrunner on the eight-episode series. Favorably compared to the acclaimed HBO drama series, True Detective, the upcoming Green Lanterns 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,” according to the official logline.
Lanterns Finds Its John Stewart and Hal Jordan
After an extensive search, DC Studios has locked down actors for the lead roles of Green Lanterns John Stewart and Hal Jordan. Kyle Chandler, best known for his starring roles in Friday Night Lights and Bloodline, has been tapped to play Hal Jordan in Lanterns. His casting came after several high-profile actors like Josh Brolin and Matthew McConaughey passed on the role.
Playing John Stewart will be Aaron Pierre, the breakout star of the Netflix movie Rebel Ridge. The actor, who reportedly beat out Stephan James (The Piano Lesson) for the role, took to Instagram following his casting to share how excited he was to join the DCU. “Tremendously honoured and abundantly grateful. A dream come true. Thank you all for the love and beautiful energy,” he wrote. “Thank you for welcoming me to DC. Let’s work!”
Lanterns is scheduled to begin filming in January 2025, with production expected to last until June. The first two episodes will be directed by James Hawes, an established television director who has worked on hit series like Penny Dreadful, Snowpiercer, Black Mirror, and, most recently, Slow Horses starring Gary Oldman. Lanterns will be one of two DCU projects to enter production in early 2025, as the superhero movie, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, is also slated to begin shooting in January. The cast for the movie so far consists of Milly Alcock in the title role and Matthias Schoenaerts as the main villain, expected to be Krem of the Yellow Hills. Craig Gillespie will direct Supergirl, which will be released in theaters in 2026.
