Despite critical acclaim and strong viewership numbers, Lanterns has yet to be officially renewed for a second season, and following yesterday's bombshell announcement, there's a good chance it won't be.
With Jeremy Latcham taking over from James Gunn and Peter Safran as DC Studios chief, Man of Tomorrow and The People Vs. Gorilla Grodd could realistically be the final "Gods and Monsters" projects we see before the entire slate is "dismantled."
Whether this would result in a full franchise reboot remains to be seen, but we really don't see Latcham signing off on another season of the adult-oriented HBO series.
The Playlist caught up with Lanterns showrunner Chris Mundy to ask him about the shakeup and the status of a second season, and he didn't sound particularly optimistic.
“We thought everything had settled [after the merger]. I can imagine a world where everyone retreats to their corners, but then, you know, it’s a coin flip, 50/50.”
A new writing team had been assembled in anticipation of the greenlight - Mundy was expected to return as showrunner, without writers Damon Lindelof and Tom King; Vanessa Baden Kelly will (or would have been) back, along with new scribes Christopher Cantwell, Nakkiah Lui, Zack Whedon, and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds.
Mundy previously revealed that some ideas for a second season have been discussed, and it sounds like, in the unlikely event that the show is renewed, Lanterns will continue to be a primarily Earth-based series.
"It’s like we’ve tossed out a lot of different things. I mean, again, we want to treat it all—you know, we won’t be back in Rushville most likely unless something crazy happens in Rushville, you know, every 10 years. But you’re going to—it’s going to be an Earth-based story that we continue most likely."
"I mean, would you—we’ve shown that you can leave the planet, so that’s good, right?" he added. "But because of that, we want to make whoever’s here as sort of grounded and real as possible. Our idea was just to ground everything and then layer on the other layers." The writer continued, "But it’s just like, okay, are you with us? Great. Now we can expand. And it’s the same thing with introducing all the other Lanterns and stuff."
John Stewart's (Aaron Pierre) adventures will continue in Man of Tomorrow, but we'd say the chances of seeing the DCU's Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) again are pretty slim.
How would you feel if we didn't get any more episodes of Lanterns? Let us know in the comments.
HBO in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios. The pilot episode is co-written by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, who are co-creators for the series. Mundy serves as showrunner. The first two episodes are directed by James Hawes, with Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Alik Sakharov also tapped to direct. The series is executive produced by Mundy, Lindelof, James Gunn, Peter Safran, King, Ron Schmidt, and Hawes. Based on the DC comic characters from Green Lantern.
The series stars Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Laura Linney, Jason Ritter, Ulrich Thomsen, Nathan Fillion, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones.
The series follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.