HBO Max Green Lantern Series Being Reworked
The DC shake-ups are reaching into outer space. According to an exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter, the HBO Max series Green Lantern is being reworked. Formerly, the show was to center on Guy Gardner and Alan Scott, played respectively by Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine, and would involve many other Lanterns as well, with eight scripts having been completed. Now, showrunner Seth Graham-Greene is out, and the series will focus on John Stewart. Greg Berlanti remains involved, although early estimates of a $120 million budget are likely to be cut, which is cited as the likely reason behind the retooling. THR notes that new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran aren’t involved in this decision, as they don’t start working in those positions till November 1, 2022.
Wow, they replaced the gay Green Lantern with the black Green Lantern; wokesters won’t know if they should be happy or mad – until they decide they want John Stewart to be gay. Seriously, I don’t have much of a dog in this race. I’m not a Green Lantern fan, not because I dislike the character(s), but just because I never got into him/them. I do get this move, though, from an outsider’s perspective. John Stewart is better known to the general public, if only because of Justice League, the animated series. The only other one who’s gone anywhere near mainstream is Hal Jordan in the Ryan Reynolds movie, and I imagine Warner Bros. Discovery wants some distance from that. (“Remember the movie so hated that Ryan Reynolds blew his own head off in Deadpool 2 to make fun of it? Well, guess who the hero of our new show is!”) That isn’t to say they couldn’t make a Hal Jordan show work, but as long as they have options, they’d probably rather not roll the dice. Cutting the budget isn’t a surprise, considering David Zaslav’s philosophy on streaming. I think he’s right, too; even if it’s successful, there’s only so much money this show can make them, and dumping buckets of cash on it likely won’t pay off in the long run. This is also Green Lantern, not Superman or Batman; he doesn’t have a huge built-in audience. With all the new changes, it’ll be a while before we see John Stewart’s Power Ring light up on HBO.
Do you like the change from Guy Gardener and Alan Scott to John Stewart? Are you excited for Green Lantern? Will the budgets for all the canceled Arrowverse shows be folded into this? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to Geeks + Gamers for more superheroes-on-the-cheap!
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