‘Lanterns’ Bosses and Stars on How the Show’s Grounded Approach Ushers in an ‘Entirely Different Kind of Superhero’

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. 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. 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 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. And so I do think that fandom is not a monolith,” Lindelof said of navigating fandom expectations.