Note: This story contains spoilers from “Lanterns” Episode 6.
“Sorry kid. Superman couldn’t make it, so you got an upgrade.”
With these words, uttered in the third act of James Gunn’s 2025 DCU-launching film “Superman,” Nathan Fillion cemented himself as a Guy Gardner for the ages. While fans knew that the character, created by John Broome and Gil Kane in 1968’s “Green Lantern #59,” would appear in “Lanterns,” they speculated for weeks over how he’d pop up. After all, the first several episodes of Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King’s HBO show were about how John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) trained from birth to replace Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) as Earth’s one-and-only Green Lantern.
But things became clearer in Episode 5, as John made the choice to leave the Lantern life behind and never take up the ring. As John points out in Episode 6 (now set 10 years after the rest of “Lanterns” and one year after “Superman”), Guy owes his superhero career to another man’s choice to walk away.
“I think that’s an unpleasant thought, but not one that Guy can easily discount,” Fillion told TheWrap. “John needs a favor from Guy, and that’s his pull. That’s what he uses to say, ‘You owe me.’ I think Guy Gardner jumps on the opportunity to say, ‘Now we’re even. I don’t owe you anything. So whatever it was that I owed you, it’s now done.’”
Despite being only the second member of the Green Lantern Corps to hail from Earth, Guy Gardner has always been a bit of an odd duck among the ringbearers. He certainly has the will to match his compatriots, but he also has a hotheadedness that would make even Hal Jordan blush. He’s the kind of character even Superman would like to hear got punched in the face.
“Certainly I think Guy Gardner’s the kind of guy who says, ‘Yeah, finally. I deserve this. What took you so long?’” Fillion said. “I think that’s his mindset of he’s very, very deserving of this honor. I think maybe even he thinks he’s honoring them by joining this little organization of theirs.”
As seen in Sunday’s “Lanterns” episode, Guy Gardner is also the kind of guy (heh) to try to monetize the Green Lantern name, creating a Batman-like signal and slapping his face on advertisements to make some scratch on the side. This perhaps explains why Guy fell in line with Max Lord’s Justice Gang in “Superman,” giving him an even greater platform on Earth.
It also explains why Guy harbors particular resentment for Hal and John’s devastation in Rushville.
“I think he wants to open his own bar. I think part of being a Green Lantern to him is he sees the financial aspect. There’s a marketing aspect there, and as such, there’s branding, and there’s an unfortunate incident that really does damage to the Green Lantern brand,” Fillion said. “That is something that really affects Guy Gardner and his personal goals. I think he takes that personally.”
Fillion didn’t mince words when talking about his latest superhero character, calling him “narcissistic,” “egotistical” and “self-important.” He also acknowledged that he has a history of playing narcissistic, egotistical and self-important men on the screen.
“If I have a niche, it is both playing characters that are likable and characters that you like to hate, and I think there’s a realm in which you can exist where you’re less than polite, you’re getting into abrasive territory, you’re loud, you’re a buffoon, but you’re not so much that you’re dangerous. There’s not malice and evil in you. You’re just in that kind of wiggle room of, Oh God, it’s this guy. Just enough loud and bluster that people can write you off easily without giving you too much of their heart. They can discount you and judge you safely from a distance. I think that’s key when it comes to Guy Gardner. He’s not entirely likable, but he’s not entirely unlikable. He’s not hatable. You can have fun disliking him.”
Many of these characters have come in Gunn projects, as Fillion finds himself among the filmmaker’s trusted troupe of superhero stars. Thus far, Guy Gardner has been one of the most consistent aspects of Gunn’s burgeoning DCU, appearing in both “Superman” and “Peacemaker” Season 2 (as well as a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in “Creature Commandos”) before “Lanterns.”
“I’m finding his purpose is very much filling in the background, filling in the fabric of this universe. The thread of Green Lantern runs throughout different projects,” Fillion said. “He’s the through line, he’s the consistency, he’s the backdrop of the universe. There’s always going to be a Guy Gardner back there somewhere.”
But these projects don’t all have the same tone. While Guy’s most prominent appearance came in the earnest family blockbuster “Superman,” he now appears in a gritty, swear-filled HBO drama. Fillion noted that it was important to maintain an internal consistency no matter what project Guy appeared in.
“I liken it to if you were to spend a weekend in Metropolis and a weekend in Gotham, you’d be the same person, but you’d have very different weekends,” he said. “It’s the difference between going to a party and going to a funeral. Guy Gardner’s going to walk into the room and say, ‘Jesus, who died?’ I don’t think Guy bends to the world around him. I think the world around Guy bends to him.”
Though it’s unclear if the character will appear in the final two episodes of “Lanterns,” Fillion is set to reunite with Pierre in 2027’s “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow.” When Guy Gardner does return, one aspect is almost certain to follow: the character’s iconic, oft-derided ginger bowl cut.
“You know what’s great is the first time we did the wig nobody could stop commenting. The wig, we’re still doing a bowl cut, we’ve just updated it a little, and I think this one looks so good,” Fillion admitted. “People would make one comment and then that was it. There were no more comments after that. After that, I think people got very, very used to it. I think it looks much more natural, actually.”
“Lanterns” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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