Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: green lantern, lanterns

Lanterns: Garret Dillahunt on Joining The DCU, William Macon, & More

Garret Dillahunt spoke with us about how Lanterns does right by comic book fans, Pierre being the definitive John Stewart, and much more.

When Garret Dillahunt was cast as the influential, wealthy power player and modern cowboy William Macon in the HBO live-action series Lanterns, it was a dream come true as a fan of the original Green Lantern comics growing up. The Deadwood and Raising Hope star is certainly no stranger to comic franchises with his runs on AMC's Fear the Walking Dead and all-too-short Fox Marvel series The Gifted. With the upcoming HBO series from Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King, the franchise takes on a unique approach, focusing on two characters from the Green Lantern Corps with the established Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), whom he's taken under his wing to learn how to master the power ring and the responsibilities that come with that. The series also marks the return of Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner, who has fully embraced his celebrity as a Lantern. Dillahunt spoke to Bleeding Cool about his role, original to the TV series, if he had any thoughts on DC Universe heads James Gunn and Peter Safran and how they guided the ship, how he knew the IP was in safe hands with the existing creatives, why TV might be a better fit for DC content, and how The Penguin got him excited about the upcoming series.

Lanterns Star Garret Dillahunt on How Mundy, Lindelof, and King Adapted a Nuanced Take of the Comics for TV

Bleeding Cool: When you heard about this opportunity to play William Macon in 'Lanterns,' what intrigued you about this role in the show?

Dillahunt: Well, I'm a comic book nerd from way back. I got 15 long boxes of comics, and I was thrilled to be a part of one of the superhero shows. 'Green Lantern' is one that I actually thought had not been serviced well over the years. It's a tricky one, and this (TV series) seemed like it was going to rectify that, so when they called, I said, "Yes, sir," then came.

Before going in, did you already have opinions on how James and Peter handled the groundwork for this DCU, and did that alleviate some of your concerns?

I didn't think about that too much. I think the storytelling pedigree of our particular group of writers is great (with Damon) Lindelof, Chris Mundy, and Tom King is giving my favorite speech at Comic-Con when we were there in San Diego, talking about his comic nerd days and how he couldn't believe it was happening. I felt like I knew I was with a bunch of people who certainly knew how to tell a story, and I was with a bunch of people who would respect the source material.

What did you like about working with Kyle, Aaron, Kelly [Macdonald], and Jason [Ritter] and helping bring that world to life?

Honestly, I think that's the greatest strength of the show is the care they took in the casting. It reminded me of the Coen brothers a little bit, where they spend a lot of time and energy making sure they have the exact right people for the job. I know this was soon after the strike that we shot this, so I know there was a lot of joy being back to work in general, but I think that was augmented by this group. I hadn't seen or worked with Kelly since 'No Country for Old Men.' It had been a while. It was great to see her again.

Jason Ritter and I had done some off-Broadway plays back in the day and just goofed off nonstop backstage. He's a great joy to have on set. I didn't know Kyle, Aaron, or Poorna (Jagannathan), but they were exactly like I expected them to be. Kyle's exactly what you think he is: a straightforward, prepared, and respectful dude. The whole crew loves him. He's always on time, always prepared, and never complains. Aaron's a theater-trained young man from England. He knows how to break down a script. He knows how to play a character, and I didn't know what to expect. He's a big handsome dude. His career is like a comet right now, and I thought, "Well, I hope he's nice." Not only was he nice, but he was also inclusive and kind. He's kind of a loner, like me, but comes out of this show real nice.

When you give [Aaron] a smile. He was never supportive, threatening, or undercutting in any way. It was so annoying that people must talk like this all the time about every show, but I've been on some that aren't fun. I've done a lot that are headed up by an asshole, and you're like, "Oh well, I hope the show's good. We wish we had more fun making it, you now?" This one is that way. These guys, I'm about to take a motorcycle trip with Kyle just through the mountains, and I can't wait to see him, can't wait to hang. They're just good people.

A lot of what I've seen so far is how grounded it is and how well the human characters are fleshed out. It seems more like an undertone to slip into the lore, slowly feeding it in, and I was just wondering what you thought of the story's pacing and presentation.

How much have you seen?

They sent me the first few episodes.

That's a good chunk. That's more than most I've talked to. That is the same as I've seen. I've only seen the first four. I thought we were making a pretty good thing while we were there. You know how these universes are. They're so secretive. If I'm not in an episode or there's a whole storyline, it's very separate. I don't see that episode. We don't know what the right hand is doing sometimes.

This was even better than I was hoping for when I saw it. I really liked the pace. I liked the steady unspooling of information for the audience. I liked the dark tone about it, but I still liked…I collected 'Green Lantern' and 'Green Arrow' Neal Adams comics from the 70s. I have a lot of affection for these heroes, and look, I think Aaron's going to be playing John Stewart in film and TV for many years to come. I can't think of anyone better at this point. He's like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. That's who you think of when you think of that character, and he's going to be that, but I also like the comics. Sometimes, you read a comic, and it's just one case, it's one event, or maybe it's a three-issue arc; that's what this series feels like. It feels like it's a story in the 'Green Lantern' universe, and I like that.

Do you feel a story like 'Lanterns' is served better on TV or could have been done in a film?

Well, I do think that the Green Lantern character, like 'The Fantastic Four' from Marvel, has seemed to have been a tricky thing to pull off well, for such beloved heroes all around. It's like, "Why is this difficult?" Maybe the serialized format is better for something like 'Green Lantern' or for maybe any comic in a lot of ways, you know? Because it gives us the time to flesh it out. I don't know if you saw or what you felt about 'The Penguin' series that HBO also did.

I loved it.

Yeah, me too, and I was greatly heartened. That's what made me the most excited when they called: it was like, "Oh, HBO is also going to do this now. Ooh, I saw their Penguin, like, what are they going to do with this?" We never saw [Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb] in the Penguin outfit. We never saw them with a monocle, cane, and spats. It was just this whole other gritty take, but it felt very DC Comics to me, which always seem a little bit more earthbound in a weird way and a little more dirty. While ['Lanterns'] is not earthbound, he's a cosmic superhero, but the story we're telling is very earthbound.

Lanterns, which also stars Laura Linney, premieres August 16th on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max, with new episodes airing Sundays.

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