The DC Universe continues shuffling some key pieces, as the plannedGreen Lanternseries meant for HBO Max streaming is unlikely to see the light of day for at least a couple of more years due to extensive redevelopment after Seth Grahame-Smith’s departure.
Green Lantern’s history in the former DCEU has been rocky, to say the least, withZack Snyder’s Justice Leaguepassing on the character due to the studio’s plans of creating aGreen Lantern Corpsmovie, then series, last known to be scheduled for 2023. Said production would have focused on characters like Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, Sinestro, Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz, Kilowog, and a newcomer named Bree Jarta, although those plans are hardly anything to go by right now.
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According toThe Hollywood Reporter, Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) is leaving the project. His exit comes after putting the finishing touches on acomplete script forGreen Lantern’s first season, due to the ongoing changes happening at both Warner Bros. Discovery and its HBO subsidiary. The same source clarifies that Grahame-Smith’s decision to step aside is unrelated to recent news that Peter Safran and James Gunn will now helm the newly formed DC Studios that will oversee all things superheroes for the company.
Despite theGreen Lanternshow being far from completed, production had finished casting for the parts of Scott and Gardner, with Finn Wittrock andJeremy Irvine lading the respective roles. With Grahame-Smith gone, the new Green Lantern project is expected to be centered around John Stewart, one of the most famous Green Lanterns. However, a substantial budget cut is believed to be in the cards in accordance with new guidelines from Warner Bros. executives.
With Warner taking a $90 million hit fromBatgirl,Green Lanternwould now run on a lower budget than the $120M forecasted when the show was first announced in 2019, as DC Studios now operates under a completely different standard. DC’s soleother series for HBO is Gunn’sPeacemaker, which garnered great reception from fans and critics with an undetermined budget, rumoured to be in the $80M region.
All things considered, Green Lantern fans’ waiting time possibly just got longer, but still, the prospect of having Gunn as DC’s main creative mind is something worth looking forward to. DC’s recent history certainly instilled very little hope for many, as the studio is still managing thefallout fromThe Flashstar Ezra Miller’s legal problems, regardless ofBlack Adamgetting off to a great start with audiences and a promising future for Superman.
