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Guggenheim shares concept art from HBO Max's cancelled Green Lantern series

Arrowverse co-creator Marc Guggenheim posted concept art on Substack from an earlier HBO Max Green Lantern series, cancelled before DC Studios' "Lanterns". It would have starred Finn Wittrock as Guy Gardner.

2 outlets · 0L · 2C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Screen Rant
Image: TVLine

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The story, neutrally told

Centre · 2Marc Guggenheim, who co-created Arrow and was a driving executive producer of The CW's Arrowverse, shared concept art on Substack from a cancelled live-action Green Lantern series that was developed for HBO Max. Centre · 2The art showed Finn Wittrock in costume as Guy Gardner and a squad of Lanterns fighting a horde of aliens, which Guggenheim said was concept art for the pilot's opening sequence. Centre · 1Guggenheim said the Gardner costume was early art by Gina DeDomenico from a design by Laura Jean Shannon, and that it would have been altered slightly to reflect his Justice League International look.

Centre · 2A third image showed Bree Jarta, a new character created for the series; Guggenheim said she was not Jo Mullein. No one had been cast in the role, according to Screen Rant. TVLine said Shannon seemingly used Janelle Monae's likeness for the character. Centre · 2Guggenheim said the original show took place in two time periods, had the Manhunters as its primary villains, and was originally pitched under the title "Emerald Knights". Centre · 2Alan Scott, played by Jeremy Irvine, was to be a secretly gay FBI agent in 1941, while Gardner and Bree's story was set in 1984. Gardner was described as an embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism.

Centre · 1Screen Rant reports that Seth Grahame-Smith was showrunner with Guggenheim in the writers' room, and that the series was picked up for 10 episodes and later trimmed to eight. It also reports that Grahame-Smith left in October 2022, after which HBO Max and Warner Bros. TV chose to redevelop the show around John Stewart, with Greg Berlanti still attached as executive producer. Centre · 2Screen Rant says that redevelopment did not get far once James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired as DC Studios co-heads, and the project was quietly cancelled as they planned the DCU. TVLine places the redevelopment after Warner Bros. merged with Discovery in April 2022, with Gunn and Safran changing the project's direction. Centre · 2The reveal follows the season 1 finale of DC Studios' "Lanterns", with Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Nathan Fillion, who plays Guy Gardner in Gunn's DCU, returns in it. TVLine says the series has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score and that some viewers wanted more of the cosmic side of the Corps.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre2 outlets

Framing
Both entertainment outlets treat the art as a fan-interest 'what might have been' tied to the success of Lanterns, contrasting the cancelled show with the current DCU series.
Emphasis
Screen Rant stresses the production history (showrunner, episode counts, cancellation). TVLine stresses the costume and cosmic look, and compares the two shows' structures.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither gives a first-hand account from HBO or DC Studios, and they differ on when and why the project ended.
Charged language
“tantalizing "what if" scenario”“Emerald Knights”
For example
“The world of DC TV almost had a very different Green Lantern show.” — Screen Rant
“the canceled Green Lantern series is still a tantalizing "what if" scenario for longtime comic fans” — TVLine

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.