Posted in: Max, Movies, streaming, TV | Tagged: dc studios, dcu, green lantern, james gunn, lanterns

Lanterns: Mundy, Lindelof & More Join DC Studios Series Creative Team?

Reports are that Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, Justin Britt-Gibson, Breannah Gibson & Vanessa Baden Kelly have joined DC Studios' Lanterns.

When DC Studios CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran first rolled out "Chapter 1 – Gods and Monsters," they made it clear that Max's Green Lantern series Lanterns would play a major role in their New DCU. Compared to "a huge HBO-quality event" along the lines of "True Detective," the "Green Lantern" series is set to focus on Hal Jordan and John Stewart – who investigate a mystery that Safran said during the initial rollout "plays a really big role leading us into the main story that we're telling across our film and television. So this is a very important show for us." Now, rumor rumblings on social media are getting louder based on a number of profile listings on the Writers Guild of America (WGA) website that appears to shed some light on who may end up comprising the show's creative team. Though not listed in their search results, Chris Mundy (True Detective: Night Country, Ozark), Damon Lindelof (HBO's Watchmen, LOST), Justin Britt-Gibson (Into The Badlands, Banshee), Breannah Gibson (Young Love, Bigger), and Vanessa Baden Kelly (Animal Kingdom, The Sex Lives of College Girls) each have Lanterns listed in their respective profiles for 2024. While additional rumblings have Mundy serving as showrunner and Lindelof executive-producing, none of that could be confirmed by what was listed on the writers' union site.

Lanterns: A Look Back at What We've Seen So Far…

Back in November 2023, Gunn was asked if there was anything he could offer regarding an update on the series. While not offering any words, Gunn did respond with a flame emoji – which we took as a good sign. That left us curious to know if that was based on any scripts that were seen – maybe some preliminary production designs? But the fact that he had a response and was willing to offer it is a good sign that things are moving on that front, too.

That would be followed up on in March 2024 with a "smiling face" emoji. Them earlier this month, Gunn offered yet another emoji update – this time, with what appeared to be three disco-dancing emojis (???) – we went with that being a good sign, too:

Gunn was also asked about another project that was in play before he took over DC Studios with Safran – the Finn Wittrock & Jeremy Irvine-starring Green Lantern. The original 8-episode series was set to span decades and galaxies- beginning on Earth in 1941 with the very first Green Lantern, secretly gay FBI agent Alan Scott (Irvine), and in 1984, with cocky alpha male Guy Gardner (Wittrock) and half-alien Bree Jarta. Along the way, they would encounter a number of both new and familiar Lanterns: Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Sinestro, and Kilowog were expected to appear. Lee Toland Krieger (Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Superman & Lois) was set to helm the first two episodes. Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and writer & showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith were set to executive produce alongside Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, and David Katzenberg– with Elizabeth Hunter and Sara Saedi co-executive producing.

In October 2022, word came down that Grahame-Smith departed the project after having completed scripts for the full, 8-episode season (with Grahame-Smith reportedly choosing to depart after leadership changes at the multimedia company). In addition, the series was refocused on John Stewart and not on Guy Gardner, Alan Scott, or the ensemble of Green Lanter Corps characters as originally envisioned. The decision came not long after the departure of Walter Hamada from the film/television leadership position at Warner Bros. Discovery but was reportedly not connected with Gunn and Safran's arrival.

In the screencap below, shares that he doesn't know much about what went down since "it was before my time" but pushes back on the idea that anyone was "done dirty" in the deal – noting that "writers, directors, actors have projects fall through every day" and that "it's a part of the job":

And that brought us to the end of April, with Gunn posting some artwork by Rev. Dave Johnson from War of the Green Lanterns 1: Aftermath) that had folks thinking that news may be hitting sooner rather than later:

Of course, it could just be that Gunn is a big Green Lantern fan – or maybe he was editing some Superman footage that included Nathan Fillion's Green Lantern Guy Gardner:

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