GREEN LANTERN Producer Marc Guggenheim Says The HBO Max TV Series Is Being Produced Like A Movie

GREEN LANTERN Producer Marc Guggenheim Says The HBO Max TV Series Is Being Produced Like A Movie

Explaining that the Green Lantern TV series coming to HBO Max won't feel like an eight-hour movie, producer Marc Guggenheim explains that they're still approaching the show like a big screen production...

By JoshWilding - Oct 26, 2020 02:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Green Lantern
Source: ComicBook.com

Arrowverse producer Marc Guggenheim was recently part of the Storytelling Across Media conference, and while his time working on Arrow has obviously reached its end, he did drop some hints about what fans can expect from the Green Lantern TV show that's in the works for HBO Max. 

The plan is for that to put the spotlight on characters like Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, Simon Baz, and Jessica Cruz, and it sounds like the streaming service is spending a lot of money on reinventing the franchise after 2011's disastrous movie. Guggenheim was one of the credited writers on that, but he's done a lot of great work in the DC Universe in the near decade that's followed. 

Talking about what fans can expect from this iteration of Green Lantern, the producer shed some light on the approach that's being taken to telling the story of these Green Lantern Corps members.

"I happen to believe - and this is not a universally-held opinion - that you can't do a ten-hour show or an eight-episode show, like an 8-hour movie. I don't think that works. When I see it done, there's always some flabby episodes in the middle. I think you have to approach it like a TV series and approach each episode like its own entity. Even though it's streaming, even though hopefully people will binge it, you've got to make each episode a satisfying meal."

That sounds a lot like the approach the now defunct DC Universe streaming service took to shows like Stargirl and Swamp-Thing, and while elaborating on that point, Guggenheim pointed to Green Lantern being a big budget endeavour for HBO Max.

"You've got to look at it with a different tempo than you would have in a two-hour movie," he continued. "That being said, certainly the show for HBO Max that we're all working on, we are approaching it with the production ambitions of a movie. So we're writing it like a TV show but we're hoping to produce it like a film."

It's an exciting approach to the project, and one we can only hope ends up paying off in a big way.

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LSHF
LSHF - 10/26/2020, 2:07 AM
"So we're writing it like a TV show but we're hoping to produce it like a film."

It would be nice if he explained what that actually means, because many of us don't write and produce TV shows and films.

Does "...produce it like a film." mean a larger budget? I've seen crappy-looking films and shows that could have used a larger budget. Higher-paid writers? Bigger stars?

I don't exactly know what he means.
Kumkani
Kumkani - 10/26/2020, 2:16 AM
@LSHF - I think he means the production quality of the show (sets, lighting, cameras and cinematography, CGI etc) will be movie quality but the storytelling and pacing will be like a TV show format.

Basically, it'll look cinematic but still play out and feel like a TV show. Like most shows these days post-Game of Thrones.
dracula
dracula - 10/26/2020, 2:19 AM
@LSHF - im hoping he means it will have the production value of a film.
Franshu
Franshu - 10/26/2020, 9:07 AM
@LSHF -
"produce it like a film" = high production quality and budget
"writing it like a TV show" = each episode has its own beginning middle and end and avoids, as much as possible, being just inconsequential filler (which was a common nuisance in the Marvel Netflix shows, for instance, as much as I loved many of them)
RageDriver2401
RageDriver2401 - 10/26/2020, 2:15 AM
As long as he doesn't build the show around sappy romances like Olicity..
dracula
dracula - 10/26/2020, 2:22 AM
@RageDriver2401 - hopefully it lives up to Doom Patrol, Star Girl and Swamp Thing, seriously if they had started with one of those and not titans, maybe DC Universe would have been a success
tmp3
tmp3 - 10/26/2020, 3:31 AM
@RageDriver2401 - Or being “organic”...
GwenLantern
GwenLantern - 10/26/2020, 2:15 AM
I think (and I'm hoping) that he means the show is an anthology and that every episode/story arc is being treated like a movie.

Otherwise it would make no sense to feature so many Green Lanterns from Sector 2814.

Different time periods or alternate realities would mean endless storytelling possibilities.
dracula
dracula - 10/26/2020, 2:23 AM
@GwenLantern - That would work well, basically did that on Justice League Unlmited. maybe have some connective tissue between the episodes, bring the cast together for the finale.

Well Sector 2814 has that many in the comics

GwenLantern
GwenLantern - 10/26/2020, 2:36 AM
@dracula - Could work pretty well.

Bringing back previous versions of a main character and having them co-exist when there is only supposed to be one is a major pitfall of legacy storytelling. Writers should have a little more discipline.

Even Buffy died (twice technically) and was replaced. But that at least made sense. She was never replaced when she died the second time because she was already dead. She already passed down the mantle. So she's not really THE Slayer. She was like the Zombie Slayer (as in a Slayer that is dead yet alive, not a Slayer of Zombies... even though she was a slayer of zombies also).

Basically, Buffy died, passed the mantle to... was it Kendra? and then she died passing the mantle to Faith and Faith was technically the real-assed chosen one slayer up until the end of the series.

Sorry. Buffy tangent.
dracula
dracula - 10/26/2020, 2:44 AM
@GwenLantern - yeah, not sure how they will explain so many human green lanterns. Not like they will have their comic book histories (even there, for some of them, im not sure why some of them became lanterns). Alan Scott will be easy, considering he isn't actually a member of the Green Lantern Corp, so has nothing to do with that legacy.

No problem with the Buffy stuff. Best genre show of the 90's/early 2000's


Hopefully the reboot/revival is good, cant wait for Joss's new show, will be the first of Joss's shows I actually get to watch as it airs. (Don't really count agents of shield, since it's Jed's and I stopped watching after season 1, but got back into it recently)
GwenLantern
GwenLantern - 10/26/2020, 3:01 AM
@dracula - Buffy was so good. Can't wait for The Nevers. Ray Fisher's stock's gonna go way down if it's even half as good as any of Joss' other shows.
dracula
dracula - 10/26/2020, 3:05 AM
@GwenLantern - Yup im sure the nevers will be great. Only 1 thing on my wishlist for that show. Since they are filming in england, I really want Anthony Stewart Head to play a villain of a season.

Funny how Yay Fisher has been quiet now that they are doing Hack Snyder's reshoots. dont expect anything from him for a while
dracula
dracula - 10/26/2020, 2:18 AM
Cool that the lessor known Lanterns will get time to shine, although hopefully the show does well enough so we can get a Hal and John led movie
tmp3
tmp3 - 10/26/2020, 3:34 AM
The show-runner and writers for this killed any hype I might have had. Bring on Peacemaker and GCPD, those could be cool, this sounds like it could be Titans-tier
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 10/26/2020, 4:13 AM
looking forward to this. hope it's done well.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 10/26/2020, 6:32 AM
@WEAPONXOXOXO - Guggenheim was one of the screenwriters for the 2011 Green Lantern film though, Arrow started sucking hard when Kreisberg and Berlanti left him alone to do the show, and his arcs during the Brand New Day era of Spider-Man are considered the worst of the rotating writers. The dude is a bonified hack.
NegativeNerd
NegativeNerd - 10/26/2020, 6:26 AM
I'm really happy and excited to see what DC brings to us next. It was definitely a rocky start, but now it seems that they are doing their own thing. I do hope this is connected in the DCEU. I wish that there was some hint that all of these films/tv shows are building up to a big event. Maybe after Flashpoint?
Rufio
Rufio - 10/26/2020, 8:39 AM
They desperately need to make Oa a place you want to go/spend time in. This is one of the many things the film failed on.

The corps headquarters needs to feel real, fresh, and lively; as if corpsmen actually live there. I remember the issue where Kyle is painting a mural on a ceiling there and it added so much life to Oa.

Really hoping they get the aesthetics right regarding the costumes, set design, ring power, the green glow, etc.

I hold very low hopes for strong story telling giving the producers history (hope I'm wrong), but hoping it looks good, at least.
johnnymarr
johnnymarr - 10/26/2020, 9:13 AM
Guggenheim, Johns, Berlanti. "Same old same old". DC's adaptations needs new creative voices.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 10/26/2020, 11:34 AM
Nothing of what he said there is false. I really hope they achieve want they want to do with this.
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