Last October, HBO Max ordered a ten-episode season of a TV series about the superhero Green Lantern. Six months later, AVClub reveals the network cast its first Green Lantern – Finn Wittrock. He will portray Guy Gardner, a third (or maybe even fourth) character to assume that mantle in the comic books. Wittrock appeared in movies like La La Land while also being among the frequent cast actors on Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology series American Horror Story. But Wittrock will play just one of several Green Lanterns featured in a show that will explore the complex mythology behind one of the oldest comic book superheroes.
The character of Guy Gardner was created by John Broome and Gil Kane. He first appeared in March 1968 on pages of Green Lantern #59. Since then, the character went through significant changes: as a Green Lantern, he was relatively bland at first before spending some time in a coma. He was later re-imagined as an entitled, chauvinistic jerk only to later evolve into a more nuanced and heroic character.
Green Lantern has been in the works for a while now. Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) will serve as showrunner while also producing the show. Greg Berlanti (Doom Patrol, Stargirl) and Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow) will executive produce the show.
