Posted in: Arrow, Batwoman, Black Lightning, CW, streaming, TV | Tagged: arrow, arrowverse, batwoman, bleeding cool, cable, crisis, crisis on infinite earths, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, green lantern, hbo max, Legends of Tomorrow, marc guggenheim, streaming, supergirl, television, the cw, The Flash, tv

Marc Guggenheim Moving on From Arrowverse; Talks Green Lantern Series

If you're a fan of The CW's Arrowverse, you might not like what Arrow and DC's Legends of Tomorrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim had to say during a spotlight session posted as part of Comic-Con International's "Storytelling Across Media" series on Saturday. But if you're looking forward to his upcoming Green Lantern-focused series for HBO Max, then you should be all smiles by the time you're done reading this.

During the discussion with Russ Burlingame (Comicbook.com) focusing on the differences, similarities, and challenges of writing for television, movies, and comic books, Guggenheim revealed that he has officially stepped away from the Arrowverse- leaving mega-crossover event "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and his directorial debut on DC's Legends of Tomorrow as his "going away gifts" to the fans. "With the end of 'Arrow' and finishing off 'Crisis on Infinite Earths,' I basically decided that a chapter's been closed here and it seemed like I've said all I'm going to say, at least for now, with these characters in this medium," he explained. "I've decided to sort of move on from the Arrowverse. By now, everyone knows that I'm involved with the Green Lantern launch for HBO Max, so I'm not going too far away, but I am stepping aside from the Arrowverse for the time being."

Okay, now we're shifting gears from not-so-good news to some really promising news. With showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith (The LEGO Batman Movie) on board, the streaming service drama will focus on the adventures of a multitude of Lanterns, including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott (Earth's first ring-wielder and a gay man), and others. The series will also include familiar faces such as Sinestro and Kilowog, as well as new heroes to the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps (and villains to stand in their way). For Guggenheim, the key to making the series work isn't the popular view of treating it as an eight-hour movie- instead, it's about making each episode its own meaningful story while also contributing to the season's broader narrative.

"I happen to believe – and this is not a universally-held opinion – that you can't do a ten-hour show or an eight-episode show, like an 8-hour movie. I don't think that works," Guggenheim explained. "When I see it done, there's always some flabby episodes in the middle. I think you have to approach it like a TV series and approach each episode like its own entity. Even though it's streaming, even though hopefully people will binge it, you've got to make each episode a satisfying meal. You've got to look at it with a different tempo than you would have in a two-hour movie. That being said, certainly the show for HBO Max that we're all working on, we are approaching it with the production ambitions of a movie. So we're writing it like a TV show but we're hoping to produce it like a film."

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