Greg Berlanti’s promised Green Lantern series has been set on the scrapheap and the writer has officially parted ways with current DC Studios co-CEOs Peter Gunn and Peter Safran, according to an announcement by the studio today. Instead, GL fans can expect an entirely new series titled Lanterns that will focus on the interplanetary policing nature of the Green Lantern Corps and will have a gritty feel similar to Nic Pizzolatto’s True Detective.
“Greg’s vision was more of a space opera that he wanted to do and our vision for it is a much more a True Detective, terrestrial-based investigation story,” Safran described, confirming the series will take place on Earth. Safran described the new series as one of the most important shows DC has in development. “This plays a really big role in leading into the main story we are telling across film and TV,” Safran noted, indicating Hal Jordan fans will see their hero finally take his place on the big screen thirteen years after the 2011 movie featuring Ryan Reynolds (post-credit sequences notwithstanding).
Berlanti’s series was to focus on a variety of Lanterns, including Golden Age GL Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, and Simon Baz. Lanterns will feature original Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan as well as the much hoped-for Lantern John Stewart, in his first live-action debut. No casting news was announced at today’s press conference but Safran did confirm that unlike past DC television projects fans can expect the same actor they see on their small screens to show up on the big one as well. “Anybody that we cast as John Stewart or Hal Jordan, they will then crossover into the movie side of things as well,” Safran added. “That’s important to us. We don’t want in any way that series to feel like stepchildren or lesser than. It’s just another way to tell the story.”