Green Lantern Series Still in the Works, Post Warner Bros. Discovery Cuts

In the wake of Batgirl’s cancellation—which was going to include the first trans character in the DCEU—it was beginning to look like the the reign of queer DC adaptations might be coming to an end (at least on HBO Max). But it looks like at least one queer comic property has survived the purge: Green Lantern.

The ongoing shakeup at HBO is the result of its Discovery+ merger, with the company deciding to reconfigure its original programming strategy on HBO Max. This has led to the cancellation of several original properties (both current and upcoming), the most hair-raising example being the nuking of Batgirl which had already wrapped up filming the entire movie.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Jeremy Irvine (@jeremy.irvine)

There were heavy rumors that Green Lantern was going to meet a similar fate. Although not surprising (given the financial disaster that was the 2011 Green Lantern film), this would have been yet another blow to queer viewers. The series was going to cover multiple iterations of the character over the decades, including the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott (played by Jeremy Irvine), who is canonically gay in the comics. In the show, Scott was going to be reimagined as a “secretly gay FBI agent” in the 1940s. Given the series would be produced by Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon), there were high hopes for a focus on this queer storyline.

After another DC project, Kevin Smith’s Strange Adventures, got the ax over the weekend. Smith speculated that the Green Lantern series would likely be next. However, inside sources have confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the series is still moving forward. The reason for the lack of news on the project is that “all involved are taking their time with the effects-heavy show — the priciest series Berlanti Productions has ever mounted — in order to get it right.”

*Exhales in gay* All in all, it is a good sign that HBO is apparently committed to the project despite the amount of money it will take to produce it. And considering the series will cover multiple eras of time, it sounds like an interesting take on the superhero genre, if nothing else.

 

 

 

 

 

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In addition to Irvine, Finn Wittrock has been confirmed as the Guy Gardner iteration of the Green Lantern. Lee Toland Krieger (Superman & Lois) will direct the first two episodes. While an official release window has not been confirmed, it’s enough for now to know that the series is still in the pipeline.