Before Nathan Fillion's DC Role, HBO's Canceled Green Lanterns Series Officially Unveiled By Arrowverse Producer
Andy Behbakht has worked as an entertainment journalist since 2010, covering all the latest in Hollywood on both the big and small screens, from staying on top of the biggest breaking news, analyzing movies and television shows in Hollywood, to in-depth interviews with actors and storytellers.
Andy's career includes having worked for publications such as FanSided, KSiteTV, TV Fanatic, It's Just Movies, Heroic Hollywood, TV Overmind, and more. Outside of his career as an established reporter, Andy is the host and producer of The Showrunner Whisperer, The Flash Podcast, the editor-in-chief of Multiverse of Color, and the network director of DC TV Podcasts.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
The world of DC TV almost had a very different Green Lantern show.
James Gunn's DC Universe just finished Lanterns season 1, which brought Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre into the franchise as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, respectively, while also featuring the return of Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner, following his introduction in 2025's Superman. While John and Guy are set to return next year, new details are now emerging about HBO Max's original plans for the Emerald Knights.
Marc Guggenheim, who co-created Arrow and was one of the driving executive producers of The CW's Arrowverse, shared on Substack the first look at the canceled live-action Green Lantern series that was initially going to air on HBO Max. The DC creative shared multiple concept art pieces from the scrapped show, which had initially been picked up for eight episodes. Check out the full gallery below:
The first image shows several Green Lantern characters who had been confirmed for season 1, including Finn Wittrock as Guy Gardner, along with other members of the Corps. While Guggenheim stressed that "I wish I could remember the name of the artist that did this piece. It was concept art for the opening sequence of our Pilot," the space organization is in the midst of fighting unidentified aliens.
The second photo gives a closer look at Wittrock's Green Lantern suit, with Guggenheim noting, "Early concept art for Guy Gardner’s costume by Gina DeDomenico off a design by Laura Jean Shannon. We were going to alter it slightly to reflect his Justice League International look." The third and final concept art he shared was of Bree Jarta, a new character they were adding for HBO Max's Green Lantern, stressing, "No, this isn’t Jo Mullein. This is the costume design by Laura Jean Shannon for a new character we had created for the series."
While no one ever got cast as Bree prior to this version of the show being cancelled, Jeremy Irvine had boarded the HBO Max drama as Alan Scott, better known as the Golden Age Green Lantern. Guggenheim also commented, "I have to reach into my memory to recall other bits of trivia like that, but I do remember that our original take took place in two time periods and had the Manhunters as the primary villains and my original title pitch was Emerald Knights," as Alan's story was going to be set in 1941, exploring the secretly gay hero operating as an FBI agent.
The ensemble was planned to follow established members such as Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Kilowog, and even Sinestro. Bree and Guy's story was going to be set in 1984, with Wittrock's iteration of the Emerald Knight being described as "a hulking mass of masculinity, and, as rendered in the comics, an embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism." Seth Grahame-Smith was tapped as the showrunner, with Guggenheim working in the writers' room, as the DC adventure got picked up for 10 episodes initially, before later getting trimmed to eight, as they wrote the scripts for the whole season.
However, Grahame-Smith departed Green Lantern in October 2022, which also led to HBO Max and Warner Bros. TV deciding to redevelop the show with a new focus, this time on John. While Berlanti was still attached as an executive producer, it didn't get very far once DC Studios was formally announced that same month, with Gunn and Peter Safran hired as the co-CEOs.
Sector 2814 · Corps Edition
How Well Do You Know
Green Lantern Lore?
🌟CorpsProtect
💎RingsPower
☠VillainsFear
💡LanternsWill
🌌UniverseOa
01
The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic peacekeeping force powered by the emotional spectrum. Each Green Lantern’s ring is fueled by a specific emotion. Which emotion powers the Green Lantern rings?
✓ Correct! Willpower is the green light on the emotional spectrum, sitting at the very center. The Guardians of the Universe chose willpower because it is the most stable and disciplined of all emotions, making it the ideal force for a peacekeeping corps that spans 3,600 sectors of space.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is Willpower. Hope powers the Blue Lantern Corps, Love fuels the Star Sapphires, and Courage isn’t a force on the emotional spectrum. Willpower — the green light — is the foundation of every construct a Green Lantern creates.
02
The most famous Green Lantern in DC Comics is a test pilot from Coast City who was chosen by a dying alien’s ring to become the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Who is this character?
✓ Correct! Hal Jordan was introduced in Showcase #22 (1959), inheriting the ring from the dying alien Abin Sur. As a fearless test pilot, Hal was the perfect candidate — his indomitable willpower made him one of the greatest Green Lanterns in the history of the Corps.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is Hal Jordan. John Stewart is a fellow Earth Lantern and architect, Guy Gardner is the brash backup Lantern, and Kyle Rayner became a Lantern after Hal’s fall. But Hal Jordan is the test pilot from Coast City who defined the modern Green Lantern legacy.
03
The Green Lantern Corps is headquartered on a planet at the center of the universe, where the Guardians of the Universe reside. What is the name of this planet?
✓ Correct! Oa sits at the center of the DC Universe and serves as the headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps. It houses the Great Battery — the Central Power Battery that channels willpower energy to every Lantern ring across all 3,600 sectors of space.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is Oa. Maltus is the Guardians’ original homeworld before they migrated, Mogo is a sentient planet that is itself a Green Lantern, and Zamaron is the home of the Star Sapphires. Oa is the iconic green-tinged world at the heart of it all.
04
Sinestro was once the greatest Green Lantern before he was corrupted by his own desire for order and control. He created his own corps powered by a different emotion on the emotional spectrum. What emotion powers Sinestro’s yellow rings?
✓ Correct! The Sinestro Corps wields yellow rings powered by fear. Sinestro believed that fear was a more effective tool for maintaining order than willpower, and he recruited the most terrifying beings in the universe to prove it. The Sinestro Corps War remains one of the greatest Green Lantern storylines.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is Fear. Rage powers the Red Lanterns, Avarice (greed) fuels the Orange Lantern Larfleeze, and Death powers the Black Lanterns. Sinestro’s yellow rings channel fear — the direct opposite of willpower on the emotional spectrum.
05
The Green Lantern ring is one of the most powerful weapons in the DC Universe. It can create solid constructs of green light shaped by the wearer’s imagination. What is the ring’s one notable weakness in classic stories?
✓ Correct! For decades, the Green Lantern ring was powerless against anything colored yellow. This “yellow impurity” was later revealed to be caused by Parallax, the fear entity, imprisoned within the Central Power Battery on Oa. Once Parallax was removed, experienced Lanterns could overcome the weakness.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is the color yellow. Water was the weakness of the original Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott (whose ring was magic-based), not the Corps rings. The classic Silver Age weakness was yellow — leading to many creative villain strategies involving yellow objects.
06
John Stewart is a prominent Green Lantern who became a household name through his role in the Justice League animated series (2001–2006). Before becoming a Green Lantern, what was John Stewart’s profession?
✓ Correct! John Stewart was an architect before becoming a Green Lantern, which is reflected in his precise, structurally detailed ring constructs. While some later adaptations added a military background, his classic comic book profession is architect — and it shapes how he uses the ring in beautifully engineered ways.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is Architect. While the Justice League animated series gave John a Marine background, his original and most iconic profession in the comics is architect. This is why his ring constructs are known for their precise, detailed engineering — he literally designs them.
07
The emotional spectrum in DC Comics features seven corps, each tied to a different color and emotion. Which corps is powered by rage and wields red rings?
✓ Correct! The Red Lantern Corps, led by Atrocitus, is fueled by pure rage. Their rings replace the wearer’s blood with burning red plasma, and they vomit corrosive napalm-like blood as a weapon. Atrocitus founded the corps to seek vengeance against the Guardians for the Manhunter massacre of Sector 666.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is The Red Lantern Corps. The Sinestro Corps wields yellow rings of fear, the Orange Lantern is Larfleeze alone (powered by avarice), and the Black Lanterns are undead entities. The Red Lantern Corps, led by Atrocitus, channels pure burning rage.
08
Parallax is one of the most significant threats in Green Lantern lore. It is the living embodiment of fear and has possessed multiple Green Lanterns. In the iconic “Emerald Twilight” storyline, which Green Lantern did Parallax corrupt and drive to destroy the Corps?
✓ Correct! In “Emerald Twilight” (Green Lantern #48–50, 1994), a grief-stricken Hal Jordan — devastated by the destruction of Coast City — was corrupted by Parallax. He defeated every Green Lantern in his path, drained the Central Power Battery, and destroyed the Corps, becoming the villain Parallax. Geoff Johns later revealed that the fear entity had possessed Hal all along.
✗ Your ring’s charge is low on that one! The answer is Hal Jordan. After Coast City was destroyed by Mongul and the Cyborg Superman, Hal’s grief made him vulnerable to Parallax. He marched through the Corps, defeated every Lantern, and absorbed the Central Battery’s power. Kyle Rayner received the last ring after Hal’s fall, becoming the sole Green Lantern for years.
Ring Scan Complete Your Power Level
/ 8
Are you worthy of the ring — or does your willpower need recharging?
Even though it never got formally announced, Berlanti's DC project was quietly cancelled once Gunn and Safran began to develop plans for what became the DCU franchise, replacing the DCEU movie timeline, which ended its run in 2023. No details on the second version of the HBO Max series from the Arrowverse creator have so far been shared, as they never got to casting someone as John or tapping a new creative team.
In the end, even if it wasn't with Wittrock, Guy got his due, with Fillion being cast as him for Gunn's franchise, as he has already had multiple appearances across DC Studios' big and small screen projects. Pierre got to become the first actor to ever play John in live-action as part of the DCU timeline, and will get his time to shine in theaters next summer in Man of Tomorrow.
DC Studios' Lanterns season 1 is available for streaming on HBO Max.
- Seasons
- 1
- Number of Episodes
- 10
- Production Company
- Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television
- Distributor
- HBO Max
- Main Characters
- Sinestro, Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Alan Scott, Simon Baz
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.