Having finally gone into production, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has shared the first look at the long-awaited “Lanterns” show, based on DC’s “Green Lantern” comic books. The most striking element about the first look image—which features Aaron Pierre (“Rebel Ridge”) as the Lantern Jon Stewart and Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”) as another guardian Lantern, Hal Jordan—is how gritty and grounded it is. The image is essentially the opposite of what one thinks of when they think of Green Lanterns which is essentially a superhero space opera.
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But let’s not forget: “Lanterns,” conceived by Chris Mundy (“Ozark”), Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and comic book writer Tom King (“Supergirl: World Of Tomorrow”), envisaged the show as a more grounded, less fantastical take on the Green Lanterns and used the gritty series, “True Detective” as one of its key inspirations (maybe not a huge surprise, Mundy also wrote on that show).
The series centers on Jordan and Stewart investigating a mystery on Earth, and Mundy, tellingly, serves as the showrunner.
“Excited that #Lanterns is now in production,” Gunn wrote on Threads. “[It’s] DC Studios’ new show for HBO and Max, from creators Chris Mundy, @damonlindelof , & @tomking_tk , starring Kyle Chandler & @aaron_pierre1, is something really special.”
Kelly Macdonald also appears as Kerry, a sheriff deeply devoted to her family and close-knit town. In the series, Chandler’s Jordan is a veteran guardian and Pierre’s Stewart is a new recruit.
The series also features Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan and Ulrich Thomsen as the supervillain Sinestro.
While Mundy being a “True Detective” alumni certainly helps as to why the show is gritty and grounded— as opposed to sci-fi and fantastical like the infamous “Green Lantern” film bomb starring Ryan Reynolds in 2011— the cost has to be a factor.
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Streaming economics have greatly changed, and even Marvel is scaling back on ambitious (read: expensive to produce) shows like “Nova” and “Strange Academy” in favor of more grounded and street-level series (read: more cost-effective to make) like “Daredevil: Born Again” and “Echo.”
The price of the aforementioned “Green Lantern” movie was astronomical as so much of it was green screen and VFX, and knowing this, surely Mundy, Lindelof, King and even Gunn helped conceive the show in a way that would be feasible and not break the bank.
“Lanterns” is a new iteration of a show that was in pre-production and cast before Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran took over DC. A version from super-producer Greg Berlanti featured Finn Wittrock as Green Lantern Guy Gardner and Jeremy Irvine as Alan Scott with Seth Grahame-Smith as the showrunner and writer, but that version never was able to go into production and got scrapped when Gunn and Safran took over the DC Studios reins.
“Lanterns” has no release date, but Gunn previously said it should be expected to premiere on MAX in the summer of 2026. Check out the first-look image below.