The DC Universe continues shuffling some key pieces, as the planned Green Lantern series meant for HBO Max streaming is unlikely to see the light of day for at least a couple of more years due to extensive redevelopment after Seth Grahame-Smith's departure.
Green Lantern's history in the former DCEU has been rocky, to say the least, with Zack Snyder's Justice League passing on the character due to the studio’s plans of creating a Green Lantern Corps movie, then series, last known to be scheduled for 2023. Said production would have focused on characters like Alan Scott, Guy Gardner, Sinestro, Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz, Kilowog, and a newcomer named Bree Jarta, although those plans are hardly anything to go by right now.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) is leaving the project. His exit comes after putting the finishing touches on a complete script for Green Lantern's first season, due to the ongoing changes happening at both Warner Bros. Discovery and its HBO subsidiary. The same source clarifies that Grahame-Smith's decision to step aside is unrelated to recent news that Peter Safran and James Gunn will now helm the newly formed DC Studios that will oversee all things superheroes for the company.
Despite the Green Lantern show being far from completed, production had finished casting for the parts of Scott and Gardner, with Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine lading the respective roles. With Grahame-Smith gone, the new Green Lantern project is expected to be centered around John Stewart, one of the most famous Green Lanterns. However, a substantial budget cut is believed to be in the cards in accordance with new guidelines from Warner Bros. executives.
With Warner taking a $90 million hit from Batgirl, Green Lantern would now run on a lower budget than the $120M forecasted when the show was first announced in 2019, as DC Studios now operates under a completely different standard. DC's sole other series for HBO is Gunn's Peacemaker, which garnered great reception from fans and critics with an undetermined budget, rumoured to be in the $80M region.
All things considered, Green Lantern fans’ waiting time possibly just got longer, but still, the prospect of having Gunn as DC's main creative mind is something worth looking forward to. DC's recent history certainly instilled very little hope for many, as the studio is still managing the fallout from The Flash star Ezra Miller's legal problems, regardless of Black Adam getting off to a great start with audiences and a promising future for Superman.
Green Lantern is in development.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
