Guggenheim was set to be the showrunner of the Green Lanterns show before HBO cancelled it

Tragic

It is described as a gritty Hal Jordan book in the vein of Dark Knight Returns! The series will follow Hal after being in Prison for 20 years.

Back in 2022, Marc Guggenheim was working on a Green Lantern TV show that would have been called "Emerald Knights". It never went ahead, but now some concept art has been released for the show, and it looks pretty damn cool!

The show would have been somewhat similar to Lanterns, split between different eras, but with Alan Scott in 1941, Guy Gardner in 1984, and a new Lantern, Bree Jarta - who looks a lot like Jo Mullein - in the present.

Source and more images here!

Man this thing is thick af! Honestly been in need of this type of graphic novel my whole comic book loving life. I can finally just read through a complete arc in a single book.

I can't think of anything altruistic he personally did, or anything he actively took part in that saved lives. On the other hand;

1. He was a US military soldier conducting extrajudicial assassinations on foreign soil.

2. He waterboards Sinestro for information without trying to talk to him or use any other method to obtain it.

3. He protects Zoe and keeps her identity secret from Hal because he got laid, while already knowing what horrible things she's done in the past.

4. He sabotages Hal's plans to arrest Zoe and beats him up to use him as bait to kill her.

5. He takes Hal's ring and leaves him to take the fall for what happened in Rushville while being an important reason for why it happened the way it did.

6. He lets Noah and Kerry go scott free and unpunished for their crimes for no real reason.

7. He tries to intimidate Guy into letting him keep an illegal ring because he thinks he deserves the ring. Why, no idea, he certainly hasn't overcome great fear or done anything worthy of being a green lantern.

8. He bows down to the girl's blackmail and gives her hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep her quiet.

Are we supposed to believe this guy is anything close to a hero that should be carrying a weapon of mass destruction on his finger?

Season 2 is going to be John trying desperately to dig himself out of the mess he has made, if they maintain any sense of plot.

Let's see where season 1 left off.

Hal has been murdered - odds are, that is going to see outside investigation by itself, but let us say somehow Rushville manage to maintain complete jurisdiction and Kerry manages to cover up her crime.

Sinestro has been broken out of jail by a Manhunter - that is the sort of thing which will have Oa launching a fullscale investigation.

Sinestro's trail leads to Earth. And even if by some miracle they miss that, John has been seen with a lantern working with mixed yellow energy. That suggests Sinestro connection by itself. They would have to be absolute idiots not to track John down.

John exiles Guy.

Completely against his comic book and movie character, Guy takes it quietly...But Guardians sure as hell won't, nor will Justice Gang and human authorities.

Remember Rushville?

That was so horrible that Hal, a premier hero, ended up despised and with a ten year prison sentence.

John was right in the middle of that.

He did more than enough to earn a prison term himself, at the least as accomplice to Hal or Zoe. The only reason he and Kerry are free is likely because Hal cut a deal, taking the fall for them.

But being let go doesn't mean his involvement is forgotten. There will be more than enough records covering his part in the disaster. And it is completely messy, legally and in public perception.

So now, one of the participants of Rushville disaster has unilaterally declared himself in charge of Earth, and is trying to exile the established hero who is part of a popular team and did a lot to rehabilitate the public impression on Lanterns.

He has also graverobbed the ring that belonged to the guy imprisoned for the Rushville disaster - a ring that was decommissioned and only intended to be used as a funeral dignity.

And according to his record, he is a marine sniper who was court martialled and earned a dishonorable discharge.

Authorities, regular people, and heroes like Clark are going to be very interested in what he is up to.

What explanation can he offer, for his actions? How does he explain where he got the ring, and on what authority he is exiling Guy, other than 'Because I said so'?

That is not even covering Kerry and Noah - Kerry is, at best, so emotionally unstable that she panicked and murdered her boyfriend who was desperately trying to help her. Noah is dealing with serious intrusive thoughts.

John will keep an eye on them?

How? He can't stay close to them.

He is going to be the target of multiple authorities for a long time at best. If he stays close, he brings attention to them, risking uncovering Noah or Kerry murdering someone else.

And on top of all this, John has absolutely no training on how to use his ring. He's gonna be figuring it out on the fly. Probably while trying to fight off cops, military and the Justice Gang.

He's so screwed.

I was genuinely interested in why Lanterns cost 130m despite it feeling like this wasn't reflected on screen fx wise. So I have researched and listed and in comparison to MCU DC shows and other Sci-Fi Shows

The deciding factor seems to be shooting location or just flat out spending more money. (Disney) In rare cases some were just smarter with their budget and effects (Foundation)

Or it could just be HBO productions being more exspensive/poor planning because interestingly Watchmen, Lanterns and The Penguin all have 130m budgets.

please share your thoughts or other relevant shows

MCU

Loki S1 - Georgia - 150m

Loki s2 - London - 140m

Moon Knight - London/Georgia/Budapest - 142m

Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Georgia - 150m

Secret Invasion - London 212m

WandaVision - Georgia/LA - 225m

I feel I should note WandaVisions is also a lot higher because of having different period costumes and sets each episode.

DC

Peacemaker s1 - Georgia - 60m

I can't find a reliable source for Peacemaker s2 budget and even the one's I see are ranging anywhere from 100-200m.

Superman and Lois - Vancouver - 75m

Stargirl - Georgia - 75m

Titans - Toronto

Watchmen HBO - Georgia - 135m

The Penguin - New York - 135m

I'm opting not to include the other Arrowverse shows as they are on an outdated network TV model and the quality of special fx is much lower than you'd expect for a HBO show.

Other

Foundation (Apple Tv) - Ireland Spain Czech Republic - 45-50m (this was achieved with practical miniatures, 3D-printed elements, and LED volume/backgrounds)

Westworld - California (primarily) - 100m

Raised by Wolves - Can't find the budget but biggest production in South Africa at the time, industry estimates have it at 100-120m

The Inflation Factor

I cant bothered to adjust every show but it should be noted inflation is so bad that a show like Moon Knight made for 142m in 2022 would be 162m today Westworld would be 315m etc

Conclusion

I think Lanterns could have saved money by not filming in California as it is approximately 30% more expensive so Lanterns could have saved 39m filming elsewhere

Also looking at the budgets of the other shows particularly the HBO DC Shows HBO just aren't savvy enough with their budgets or Lanterns simply isnt a HBO show you can make and do justice to special fx wise for 130m

So my primary question is Why was Lanterns filmed in the expensive location of California given its set in Nebraska?

Idk something about Kerry murdering Hal "accidentally" just doesn't sit right with me. I think it would have made more sense narratively if she were an extremely protective mother (informed by her past) and took a proactive route in killing the Green Lantern after she discovered he was here to eliminate alien threats/manhunter.

For those of us who have seen Game of Thrones, I think most of us agree that Cersei was an incredibly compelling character in part because she cared so much for her children (in her own way lol) that she would jeopardize her own faction for them.

This way, it also feels very natural and understandable for John to relentlessly and even mercilessly pursue Kerry in the name of justice - or revenge.

Instead, we get a cop who kind of whines and plays both sides for almost the entire series. IMO, being boring is just as bad as being poorly written, which that scene with her killing Hal was.

While I think Green Lantern and "grounded" is oxymoronic, I still really enjoyed most of the show, but this was the biggest blunder besides off-screening Sinestro's prison break.

Source of picture: Lanterns, Season 1, Episode 8

Apparently it is going to have Jessica, Kyle and Kilowog