In 2011, superhero movies were still a bit of a risk. The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man had launched the MCU, but things were looking a bit more touch-and-go on the DC side after the release of Christopher Nolan’s smash hit The Dark Knight was followed by the box-office failure of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. DC’s next attempt was even worse, as The Green Lantern is often touted as one of the worst superhero movies of all time.
However, the cosmic hero is now getting a second life thanks to two TV veterans, including one with a history of remaking DC failures. On Instagram, James Gunn announced that the previously announced Lanterns series — described as “a huge HBO-quality event” that’s “very much in the vein of True Detective” — will feature Lost and The Leftovers’ Damon Lindelof and Ozark’s Chris Mundy as writers, alongside DC comic veteran Tom King.
Both showrunners seem like a good fit for the project. In 2019, Lindelof created a Watchmen series that turned a middling Snyder movie into prestige television, while Mundy was an executive producer for True Detective Season 4, the very series Gunn is comparing Lanterns to. That said, these creatives have their work cut out for them. The 2011 Green Lantern movie put a damper on the hero’s cinematic potential, and the DCEU expanded without any trace of the Green Lantern.
But with DC rebooting its cinematic universe, now’s the right time to try something new under Gunn’s guidance, and the Lantern Corps is the perfect place to start. While Superman, the centerpiece of the Gunn era, is technically an alien himself, the Lanterns are some of DC’s most pure sci-fi elements. They’re worth taking a big swing on, and between Lindelof’s experience with superheroes and Mundy bringing a grounded, prestige touch, Lanterns will hopefully give the Lantern Corps the live-action treatment they deserve. At the very least, there’s no way it can be worse than the old Ryan Reynolds movie, right?
