The DC Universe is still in its infancy, but the film and TV franchise is already treating Green Lantern quite well. First, James Gunn’s Superman will feature Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner as one of its supporting heroes when it’s released onto the 2025 movies schedule this summer. Then in 2026, we’re getting the Green Lantern-focused series Lanterns will spotlight Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart. Now word’s come in that Fillion will reprise Guy in the upcoming DC TV show, and I’ve already thought of the moment I’d like to see from him when he stops by.
First things first, this casting update comes from EW, although it wasn’t disclosed how many episodes Guy will appear in over Lanterns’ run on HBO (and later streamable with a Max subscription). Back when Lanterns was announced as part of the unveiling of the DCU’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters slate, Gunn, who also co-runs DC Studios with Peter Safran, said that “a few other Lanterns” would be “peppered in there” alongside Hal and John. Now we know one of them… well, two if you count Ulrich Thomsen’s Sinestro, but it sounds like he’ll already be wearing his yellow ring of fear rather than the emerald ring of willpower.
Guy Gardner is actually the second Green Lantern Fillion has played, as he previously voiced Hal Jordan in a handful of direct-to-video animated DC movies. Also, if we count The Suicide Squad loosely existing in the DCU continuity, then this is his second role in this particular franchise, as he appeared as TDK in James Gunn’s first DC movie. As far as his Guy Gardner portrayal in Superman goes, Fillion described the character as a “jerk” who, while filling the Green Lantern requirement of being “fearless,” is just “not very good.” Yep, that sounds like Guy.
Regardless of how much we see of Guy in Lanterns, I’m hoping the HBO series carves out some time to show how the character was chosen to become a Green Lantern. In the comics, Guy was tapped as Hal’s replacement when he was incapacitated, and this was back when there was only one Green Lantern assigned per sector in the universe. But as the decades passed, Sector 2814 wracked up more and more human Green Lanterns serving at the same time, and clearly that’s how things work in the DCU as well.
More to come…