Posted in: HBO, Movies, streaming, TV, Warner Bros | Tagged: dc studios, dcu, james gunn, peter safran, warner bros discovery

Another Day, Another DC Studios Rumor Killed by James Gunn

With what will obviously be a very busy 2023 ahead of them, we hoped DC Studios co-heads James Gunn & Peter Safran would be able to grab a little holiday downtime in our last post. And between St. Louis toasted ravs, cheese plates, and quality time with his mother, it seems like Gunn might actually be getting a second for a breather or two. But that doesn't mean he's taken his eye off the social media ball entirely, still checking in with an occasional update or opinion. But best of all, he's still taking the time to shoot down some of the "sourced reporting" out there that claims to know what Gunn & Safran have in mind. Earlier this week, he offered a blunt reassurance that the Green Lantern series was still moving forward as pushback to rumblings that the series was being shelved in favor of films. This time around, Gunn's setting the record straight when it comes to reports that Warner Bros. Discovery has scheduled a big DC Studios "rollout" of Gunn & Safran's DCU plans for Friday, January 6th. "It is not" was his direct, no-nonsense response via Twitter; if folks need their WBD "fix," CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will be speaking at the Citi 2023 Communications, Media & Entertainment Conference on January 5th. But I'm willing to guess that Wiedenfels won't be dropping a whole lot of DC Studios news at that… we'll spare Gunn & his holiday the question.

James Gunn Shuts Down Green Lantern Report; Series Timeline

On Monday, Gunn took some time out from the holidays to push back on "sources" spreading the word that HBO Max's John Stewart-focused Green Lantern series had been "scrapped" and that Gunn was eyeing Stewart's Green Lantern for the film side instead. Taking to Twitter, Gunn clarified in a pretty blunt way that the project was still moving forward, responding to the article's tweet with a very straightforward "Fake." Meanwhile, Gunn had gone on record as saying that DC Studios should have some new projects to announce after the start of the new year. Now, here's a look back at the recent timeline tracking recent developments with Green Lantern:

August 2022: HBO & HBO Max CCO Casey Bloys sends out an email that lays out the changes that will be taking place on the executive levels moving forward. While describing HBO Max Head of Original Content Sarah Aubrey, Bloys says they will be working with Joey Chavez, EVP Programming, to build up "tentpole IP series such as 'Peacemaker,' 'Dune,' 'The Penguin,' and 'Green Lantern.'" Those series would include James Gunn's John Cena-starring Peacemaker; the upcoming "Dune" prequel series, Dune: The Sisterhood; Matt Reeves' Colin Farrell-starring "The Batman" spinoff, The Penguin; and Greg Berlanti's Finn Wittrock-starring Green Lantern. You can check out Bloys's email in full here).

October 2022: Though Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO Max remain committed to Greg Berlanti and his Warner Bros. TV-based Berlanti Productions' take on a Green Lantern series, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the series was going through a ground-up refocusing that saw writer & showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith departing the project after having completed scripts for a full, 8-episode season (with Grahame-Smith reportedly choosing to depart after leadership changes at the multimedia company). The series will now focus on John Stewart and not on Guy Gardner (Finn Wittrock), Alan Scott (Jeremy Irvine), or the ensemble of Green Lanter Corps characters as originally envisioned. The decision was said not to be connected with the recent news that Gunn and Safran were set to lead film, TV, and animation at DC Studios.

November 2022: In an interview, Aubrey also stressed how Warner Bros. Discovery IPs were as an essential part of the streamer's future, having this to say about Green Lantern: "We remain very excited by the opportunity to make a big four-quadrant space opera with Greg [Berlanti] and Sarah [ Schechter] for HBO Max."

December 2022: In a tweet confirming that Superman was "a huge priority, if not the biggest priority" in his and Safran's DCU plans (this was before the Gunn-penned Superman movie was announced), Gunn also said that Green Lantern was "important" as the DCU moves forward.

Add in the most recent update above, and that should get everyone up to speed!

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