If there’s one thing you can be sure of, it’s that Superman’s overall summer box office success put a lot of minds in Warner Bros. at ease, none more so than its writer and director, James Gunn, who also runs DC Studios with his production partner Peter Safran.
With that crucial hurdle cleared, the duo now look to the future of their rebooted DC universe. It has really started to gain momentum too following the release of the first teaser trailer for Supergirl a little under two weeks ago, not to mention over the weekend they announced the casting of German actor Lars Eidinger as Braniac in the 2027 Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, confirming the suspicions of many fans as to the villain’s big screen debut.
Yet, in all this commotion, fans should not be sleeping on one of the DCU’s most promising upcoming projects, the TV show Lanterns.
As the title suggests, the show will center on members of the Green Lantern Corps., and we have already encountered one Green Lantern in the DCU in the form of Nathan Fillion’s abrasive and cocky Guy Gardner, who appeared in Superman. Fillion will also appear in Lanterns as a member of the main cast, and the Canadian actor has previously revealed “in that show…boy, Guy Gardner. I’ve dropped more F-bombs in that project than I have in, I think, my entire career put together”, which is certainly a provocative statement that also points to the show’s intentionally mature nature, similar to Peacemaker. However, it’s not Guy Gardner who will be the true focus of the show, but rather two of the most popular and well-known Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, played by Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, respectively.
There is so much to be excited about for the upcoming Lanterns that it can be difficult to know where to start, but perhaps the best place is who is behind it, with the most recognizable names involved being Damon Lindelof and Tom King, two of show’s three co-creators. The former is an Emmy-winning writer and producer who created the some of the most significant TV shows of the 21st century, such as Lost, the Leftovers, and the HBO limited series Watchmen, while the latter is a legendary comic book writer who has worked on characters like Vision, Batman, and even wrote the Supergirl comic Woman of Tomorrow, which inspired the aforementioned upcoming film adaptation.
That is already a significant amount of talent behind the scenes, and then there is the third creator of the show, Chris Mundy, who will also serve as the showrunner. While Mundy’s name is not overly recognizable to the average viewer, he is in fact a veteran of the industry who has worked on shows like Hell on Wheels, Criminal Minds, True Detective, and served as the head writer and showrunner for the hit show Ozark. While his background already inspires confidence, he clearly has a deep understanding of what makes this adaptation tick, describing it as “a layered drama – rooted in nuanced storytelling and rich world building – that balances tension and mystery with honest, authentic emotion. The goal is to create something that feels timeless and grounded without sacrificing the magic of the source material.” Herein, then, is the underlying reason why I think Lanterns is one of the most exciting superhero TV shows to come around in some time, as the way in which they are approaching the source material, and the revered characters that come with it, is nothing short of inspired, at least on paper.
Chandler will be playing an older and more seasoned version of Hal Jordan, serving as something of a reluctant mentor for the newly initiated John Stewart, with the duo finding themselves embroiled in a murder mystery in Nebraska, embodying a gritty detective story that show director James Hawes has compared to the likes of Fargo, True Detective, and Fargo. This makes the casting of Chandler and Pierre even more brilliant, as Chandler is an Emmy-winning acting veteran who needs little introduction, while Pierre is a talented dramatic actor with a physique that has seen him described as a ‘specimen’ on more than one occasion. If you have not seen Pierre in action yet, I highly recommend checking out Rebel Ridge on Netflix, the guy is bona fide star in the making!
Though I digress, as the point I am making is that the likes of Chandler and Pierre can not only carry the weight of a serious drama, but also find the balance required to truly ground their characters, and by extension the show, as Mundy intends, especially given it is still essentially about superheroes who can use power rings to produce any structure they put their minds to. And their supporting cast is nothing to scoff at either, featuring the likes of Kelly McDonald, Garrett Dilahunt, Nicole Ari Parker, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jason Ritter, and Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen who playing none other than the villain Sinestro, who reportedly has already gone rogue from the Green Lantern Corps. by the time the events of Lanterns kick off.
Sadly, there is no confirmed release date for Lanterns yet, only a tentative ‘mid-2026’ window, though given that the show is so far along in production, with the first image of Chandler and Pierre in character being released last February, a trailer is very likely arriving sooner rather than later.