When Green Lanterns Become True Detectives: Meet HBO’s Pulpy, Prestige-y ‘Lanterns’

In the vast and colorful universe of DC Comics, where there is no shortage of imperiled planets that could use some superhero 911, the Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force that patrols every sector of the cosmos. Wearing domino masks and armed with power rings, they can conjure whatever their minds and wills can muster. Their solemn oath doubles as energizing magical words for their enchanted bling: “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!”

HBO’s Lanterns, now in production, embraces everything high concept about genie-esque space cops, while being rooted in the earthiest of TV genres—the prestige pulp detective show. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Bloodline) plays Hal Jordan, a seasoned Lantern approaching retirement, and Aaron Pierre (Rebel Ridge, The Underground Railroad, Genius) plays John Stewart, the trainee who will replace him. Together, they investigate a murder in Nebraska, which leads them to still darker mysteries, as well as reckonings.

Leading the Lanterns charge is writer and showrunner Chris Mundy, an Emmy-nominated veteran of crime dramas who oversaw Ozark during its celebrated four-season run, and also served as an executive producer on the Jodie Foster season of True Detective. A comic book neophyte, he was recruited to the mission by DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran. “I was drawn by the challenge and fun of creating something really grounded inside this big, amazing mythology,” says Mundy. “From the beginning, all we talked about was, how can we take all the things we loved about the source material and turn it into a layered, human HBO drama? Just the idea of trying to pull that off was exciting to me.”

With Mundy citing True Detective and Slow Horses as tonal touchstones (the latter’s season one director, James Hawes, is helming the first two episodes), Lanterns sounds light years away from the dimly viewed 2011 feature film gloss on Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds, who has spent years meta-apologizing for it. Yet while not adapting any specific storyline from 85 years of Green Lantern comics, the series is nonetheless steeped in the spirit and arcana of a canon produced by multiple generations of writers and artists.

“Kyle has been so ridiculously good in so many things. He’s also very funny, in a dry-wit way, which is important for the character. He’s going to make us all look really good, basically.”

The original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, a more magic-based superhero, was created in 1940 by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger during the Golden Age of comics. In 1959, Silver Age legends John Broome and Gil Kane rebooted the franchise for the space-race era with a more sci-fi premise, introducing test pilot Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps concept. John Stewart was introduced in 1971 during a run by modern giants Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams that was acclaimed for its bold, blunt address of real-world social issues.

“Our Lanterns have the rings and all the power they bring, and other characters and aspects of the lore are going to show up or be name-checked. But it’s a series that explores who these guys are when they’re on the job and when they’re out of uniform,” says Mundy. “It’s designed to be accessible for people who don’t know the mythology, but hopefully really satisfying for people that know it backwards and forwards.” He adds that Lanterns is set in its own creative realm, separate from other current or forthcoming DC Studios films and shows. “We’re not part of a larger storytelling plan right now,” says Mundy. “Season one is designed to be its own, complete season of television that, hopefully, will become many seasons of television.”

Mundy’s creative team includes two leading lights of superhero storytelling and mystery serials, noted for their interest in the human, spiritual, and political dimensions of fantastical characters. The premise for Lanterns was initially pitched by Tom King, a best-selling, Eisner-winning comic book scribe (Vision, Mister Miracle, The Human Target). As Mundy and King began developing, they enlisted Damon Lindelof, co-creator of Lost, The Leftovers, and Mrs. Davis, returning to the superhero genre for the first time since his 2019’s Emmy-winning Watchmen. (Full disclosure: This writer worked on Watchmen as a story editor and knows Lindelof well.)

“I love Tom’s comics, particularly Vision, and I loved Ozark; right there, you have a cool mash-up of things. So, when they asked me if I wanted to join the team, I was in for the road trip,” says Lindelof, who has a more deep-cut appreciation of Green Lantern comics, particularly the offbeat, sci-fi short stories of the Green Lantern Corps penned by Alan Moore in the ’80s. “What I’ve always loved about Green Lantern is that he’s a superhero whose imagination is his greatest strength, in terms of using his ring to conjure amazing things. That’s cool to me, especially as an artist. The other thing I loved about the Green Lantern Corps, besides its diverse range of male, female, and alien characters, is the fun camaraderie and competitive tension between its members. It’s a community of lone-wolf cops with an idealistic ethos that demands a lot of them. That makes for a rich source of drama.”

“Aaron is a serious theater actor, yet he also looks like he was built in a lab to be an action star.”

As Mundy and his cohort of super-friends fleshed out their version of Hal Jordan, they envisioned the character Chuck Yeager from The Right Stuff. “Kyle has that quality in spades,” says Mundy. “He’s been so ridiculously good in so many things. He’s also very funny, in a dry wit way, which is important for the character. He’s perfect for the part, and he’s going to make us all look really good, basically.”

For John Stewart, Mundy says he needed an actor who could embody a complex character who’s both a Marine and an artist. “Aaron is a serious theater actor, yet he also looks like he was built in a lab to be an action star. Those two qualities spoke to me,” says Mundy. “He’s an extremely thoughtful performer with a huge range and the ability to be many things at once, which you need for John Stewart.”

Filming on Lanterns commenced last week with a supporting cast that includes Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men, Boardwalk Empire), Garrett Dillahunt (Deadwood, Raising Hope), Poorna Jagannathan (Never Have I Ever), and Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration, Banshee), who plays the show’s version of Sinestro, a ruthless rogue Lantern. Future directors will include Stephen Williams, Geeta Vasant Patel, and Alik Sakharov. Mundy is happy with what he’s seen so far. “The scripts are done, and James is killing it in terms of directing for this first week,” he says of Hawes. “We’re getting the scope that we were hoping to get. And Kyle and Aaron are just great together. Their chemistry on screen is fantastic and they set a great tone for excellence and camaraderie on set. We know we have to deliver great stories for this audience, and what I’ve seen so far bodes well.”