Credit: Inside the Magic The new DC Universe has found its next
Green Lantern: Coach Eric Taylor.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kyle Chandler, the actor best known for portraying Coach Eric Taylor on the critically beloved sports drama Friday Night Lights, has been cast as Hal Jordan in the new HBO series Lanterns. The project is part of the upcoming slate of comic book adaptations being masterminded by James Gunn, the new creative chief and co-CEO of DC Studios.
After the collapse of Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe, which attempted to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe through portentous grittiness and slow-motion action sequences, Warner Bros. Discovery appointed James Gunn to build a new franchise.
Gunn has announced a huge slate of new projects, collectively titled Chapter One: Gods and Monsters, which will include his own Superman reboot starring David Corenswet, Peacemaker Season 2, and a new Green Lantern show titled Lanterns.
Related: Thanos Shoots Down James Gunn DC Role, Sticks With Marvel
Lanterns has reportedly been in development for years at HBO and is being co-written and produced by Chris Mundy (best known for the Netflix crime series Ozark), Damon Lindelof (of HBO’s Watchmen), and comics writer Tom King, who received a joint Eisner Award for Best Writer with Marjorie Liu for his work on various Batman titles and Mister Miracle.
King is also known for Justice League: Darkseid War: Green Lantern #1 “Will You Be My God?” which is widely considered one of the finest modern Lantern stories.
Reportedly, the series will feature two of the best-known characters to hold the title of Green Lantern: Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Lanterns will apparently be framed as a True Detective-style mystery (which makes sense, considering that series was one of HBO’s most critically acclaimed originals) in which an older Jordan reluctantly mentors a junior Green Lantern in an Earth-bound murder case.
In a lot of ways, it doesn’t sound like a Green Lantern series at all, considering the franchise primarily concerns an intergalactic organization of law-keepers empowered by cosmic energies via power rings based on an emotional spectrum and monitored by small blue aliens called the Guardians of the Universe. It’ll be interesting to see how that squares up with “gritty detective story.”
Related: DC Sets Marvel up to Fail: James Gunn Reveals Superior Movie Processes
On the other hand, Kyle Chandler is inspired casting for Hal Jordan, often considered the premiere Green Lantern and the one usually placed in the DC pantheon of heroes along with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
Jordan was created by John Broome and Gil Kane and is often depicted as something of a straight-arrow former military man with a deep sense of justice and camaraderie; Chandler is best known for playing the stern but deeply ethical coach of a small-town football team. You can draw the comparisons from there.
The role of John Stewart appears to still need to be cast. Nathan Fillion will portray another famous Green Lantern, Guy Gardner, in the upcoming Superman reboot. One way or another, the DCU will soon have many Lanterns.
What do you think of this Lanterns casting?