As part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s newly expanded DCU, a more grounded take on the “Green Lantern” comics may surprise audiences who associate the character with the Ryan Reynolds film that received poor reviews back in 2011.
But for co-creators Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King, “Lanterns” is all about going back to the original iteration of the character when he was “an entirely different kind of superhero.”
“We’re talking about almost a century’s worth of storytelling, and now we get to carry that baton,” Lindelof told Variety. “But then at the same time, the audience is hungry for something original and relevant, and they want storytellers to take risks. Those risks can’t feel like they’re gimmicks; they have to feel like they have real emotional stakes.”
The show follows Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) as he is forced to take John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) under his wing as a backup. As the Green Lantern, Hal has the power to create material items through his ring and acts as an intergalactic space officer. Things take a dark turn after a series of unexplainable deaths draw Hal and John to a small town in Nebraska.
As creators, King brings a wealth of experience as a comic book writer, while Lindelof created the “Watchmen” TV series. Mundy, who served as showrunner on “Ozark,” is new to the comic book world.
“I know that if Damon didn’t work on this show, I would have used — and I think Tom would say the same — ‘Watchmen’ as a real touchstone of how you do a show and have it be emotional and about real people, while also honoring the comic book part of it,” Mundy said.
In addition to the grounded approach that “Watchmen” takes, “Lanterns” also shares similarities in how the show explores race, colonization and justice. King explained how “there’s a wonderful coincidental parallel with comics that ‘Watchmen,’ in the ’80s, set the standard for a generation of comic book writers who were like, ‘Oh, we can talk about those themes using superheroes!’”
Poorna Jagannathan, who plays the conniving and mysterious Zoe, hopes that shows like “Lanterns” invite more actors into the DCU who don’t read comic books.
“I thought I’d be with a green screen wearing a suit, talking to no one at all, just into the abyss,” she told Variety at Thursday’s premiere on the Paramount lot. “I hesitated because I didn’t know this world at all. I felt like I didn’t belong, actually. I felt bad that I was so ignorant about it.”
“I don’t think that only this universe will be affected by it; I think every show in the genre will be affected by what happened on ‘Lanterns,’” she added. “It’ll be a blueprint on how to take something big and keep it with a beating heart.”
As the DCU continues to expand and test the waters of audiences, both with the success of films like “Superman” and the underwhelming reception to “Supergirl,” how audiences react to “Lanterns” could determine if early conversations about Season 2 turn into an official renewal.
“The one thing that fans hate more than being listened to is fan service and that sort of idea of doing something just to placate them. And so I do think that fandom is not a monolith,” Lindelof said of navigating fandom expectations. “There are some fans who want more risky, edgy sort of revisionist storytelling inside of these adaptations, and some fans who are just basically like, ‘Give me what I love.’”
There are certain canonical elements that the “Lanterns” team had to carefully maneuver, such as how the show ties into John Stewart’s involvement in “Man of Tomorrow,” and the return of Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), who also appears in “Superman” and “Peacemaker.”
But when it comes to what “Lanterns” might signal for the future of the newly revamped DCU, it’s all about creative voices being at the forefront.
“You can’t go out of bounds in terms of storylines that James and Peter want to do,” Lindelof said. “But artistically, they’re giving us a lot of freedom to tell the story how we want.”
“Lanterns” premieres Sunday, Aug. 16 on HBO Max.