Arrowverse Producer Marc Guggenheim Says The Scrapped Green Lantern TV Series “Was Gonna Be Awesome”

JB Augustine |

Aug 13, 2024

Smelling fear — Hal (Ryan Reynolds) has to deal with Sinestro (Mark Strong) in Green Lantern (2011), Warner Bros. Pictures

Before DC Films became DC Studios and Discovery merged with Warner Bros., plans were in place for another slate that was also going to boast an ambitious Green Lantern project. It wasn’t to be and went cold turkey after a period of rumors and innuendo preceding the transition of power.

Green Lantern creates giant cannons to blast his foes with via Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2023), Rocksteady Games

The show was meant for Max and was spearheaded by Arrowverse producers and showrunners Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim. The latter recently had the chance to discuss what could have been and he was looking forward to rolling cameras on the thing.

“It was gonna be awesome,” he says in a video interview with The Showrunner Whisperer. “We had James Mangold’s go-to production designer; we had the woman who designs the costumes for The Boys [Laura Jean Shannon] and a million other superhero shows.”

He added, “Oh, and you should see those costumes, by the way, not a single bit of CG in any of them! [They] looked amazing. The production art, it would blow you away, honestly, stuff that looked incredible, but looked like a movie. We had an amazing writing staff; we’d written all eight scripts of the first season.”

Continuing, Guggenheim confirmed reports and inside dope about the show’s premise and structure. “I know what the show would have been and it was going to be emotional and exciting with two different time periods. I think incredibly strong character work that was very, very, very true to the franchise of Green Lantern,” he explained.

Beware HIs Power-Green Lantern — John Stewart (Aldis Hodge) has the heart of a Lantern in Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022), Warner Bros. Animation

His and Berlanti’s Lanterns was reputedly pitched as a space opera that put more of a focus on lower-tier ring slingers Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz while placing Alan Scott and Guy Gardner as the seasoned veterans. Hal Jordan and John Stewart were rumored for appearances but only from time to time.

Hal and Stewart moved up to the starring roles in James Gunn’s iteration. With the dip in the quality of DC offerings on The CW by the end, it’s hard to say if Berlanti and Guggenheim’s Lanterns would’ve been any good.

Weak constructs — Hal (Ryan Reynolds) takes everything Killowog (Michael Clarke Duncan) can throw at him in Green Lantern (2011), Warner Bros. Pictures

That said, Gunn’s concept isn’t in the clear either as the involvement of Tom King and Damon Lindelof is leaving some dismayed by the prospect of their series.

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