Is new DC Entertainment head honcho James Gunn already making moves? The Hollywood Reportersays no, but it certainly feels timely that one day after the announcement that Gunn would head up all things DC for Warner Bros. Discovery that the long-in-development Green Lantern TV series would pivot to star John Stewart, best known for starring in the animated Justice League series.
Weirdly, it seems the Greg Berlanti-produced series wasn’t allowed to use Stewart, although the zillion other Lanterns were up for grabs. From THR: “Sources say the character of John Stewart was off the table to producers who envisioned the show as focusing on the first Green Lantern, the openly gay Alan Scott, and Guy Gardner as well as a ‘multitude of other Lanterns—from comic book favorites to never-before-seen heroes.’ With DC Comics topper Walter Hamada’s recent exit, a decision was made to start over and build the show around John Stewart, the character who first appeared in the early 1970s and was modeled after Sidney Poitier.” While Guy Gardner is fun because he’s a jerk, Alan Scott is a Golden Age hero who’s rarely been explored, and Hal Jordan’s “personality” could best be defined as “square-jawed,” so I think this move is for the best.
Seth Grahame-Smith, who was acting as showrunner and had apparently finished eight full scripts for the series, has departed the project. The fates of actors Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine, who had been cast as Gardner and Scott respectively, are unknown, and neither is apparently signed to the show.
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