‘Green Lantern’ Series Shifts Focus To John Stewart As Showrunner Departs
by Erik Amaya
While the long-in-development Green Lantern series is moving closer to what fans might want, it comes at a cost.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Seth Grahame-Smith has left the project, despite completing scripts for an eight-episode first season, because the program is being retooled. Originally meant to tell two stories decades apart — one centered on Alan Scott (Finn Wittrock) in the 1940s and the other detailing the ’80s exploits of Guy Gardner (Jeremy Irvine) — the program will now instead focus on popular GL John Stewart (yet to be cast).
This is the second time Grahame-Smith has departed a DC project. He was one of the many directors who attempted to tackle The Flash feature film and faced headwinds as both star and studio wanted something darker than one would expect from the title character. We doubt he’ll ever be interested in working within the DC Multiverse again. Wittrock and Irvine are no longer signed to the project, nor is former executive producer Marc Guggenheim. For now, only executive producer Greg Berlanti and his production company remain involved in the project, which is said to be much more cost-effective than the one initially planned. So, for the moment, let’s assume Stewart’s story will be set in the modern day instead of, say, the ’70s.
The change comes on the heals of some wins for the newly formed DC Studios. Black Adam was #1 at the weekend box office and the division finally found new leadership in the forms of director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran, who will be the studio’s chairmen and CEOs. But as they do not assume their duties until November 1st, the changes to Green Lantern reflect the rudderless volatility at Warner Bros. Discovery and its CEO’s disinterest in big budget streaming projects.
Green Lantern will eventually debut on the successor platform to HBO Max and Discovery+, provided that merger is still part of the WBD corporate strategy.