Several different versions of a Green Lantern reboot have been in the works since the 2011 movie was released. In recent years, the franchise has been eyed for a small screen overhaul and, for a time, an HBO Max series looked likely.
Described as a "space opera," the idea was to focus on characters like Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, Simon Baz, and Jessica Cruz. DC Studios scrapped that version to instead focus on Hal Jordan and John Stewart in a True Detective-inspired story set on Earth. That's now being developed for Max.
Talking to The Showrunner Whisperer, Arrowverse boss Marc Guggenheim reflected on his involvement with this previous iteration of Lanterns and revealed new details on what might have been.
"It was gonna be awesome," he says in the video below. "We had James Mangold’s go-to production designer; we had the woman who designs the costumes for The Boys [Laura Jean Shannon] and a million other superhero shows."
"Oh, and you should see those costumes, by the way, not a single bit of CG in any of them! [They] looked amazing. The production art, it would blow you away, honestly, stuff that looked incredible, but looked like a movie. We had an amazing writing staff; we'd written all eight scripts of the first season."
"I know what the show would have been and it was going to be emotional and exciting with two different time periods," Guggenheim added. "I think incredibly strong character work that was very, very, very true to the franchise of Green Lantern."
Short of that concept art leaking, we'll never get to know whether that approach was better or worse than what Chris Mundy (True Detective: Night Country), Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) and comic book scribe Tom King (Supergirl) are dreaming up.
Elsewhere in the conversation, the veteran producer reflected on Matt Ryan's John Constantine being pulled from Legends of Tomorrow. The character got a second chance in Arrow after his NBC series was scrapped and, after boarding the Waverider, he was abruptly written off it a few years later.
"I’ll tell you, the only time that bothered me – and I was off the show, as a showrunner by this point – the only time that really bothered me was Legends being told that we could no longer use Constantine," Guggenheim said, confirming it was a studio-mandated decision.
When it was put to the producer it might have had something to do with J.J. Abrams' now-scrapped plans for Constantine on HBO Max, he responded, "I would say that was a pretty realistic deduction and, obviously, given the fact that show never came to pass. It’s particularly disappointing that we had to shift gears with Matt, who is not just terrific as Constantine, but just a terrific actor in general."
You can watch the full interview in the player below.