Photo Credit: HBO Max
Writer Grant Morrison is responding to a comment that Damon Lindelof made about the new DCU show Lanterns.
DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television’s Lanterns will premiere on HBO Max later this year. Created by Lindelof, Chris Mundy, and Tom King, the series will see Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre play Green Lantern characters Hal Jordan and John Stewart. The cast further includes Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, and more.
While there was initially tons of excitement for Lanterns, the release of the show’s first trailer has now left some unsure what to think about the new show. Green Lantern comics and stories are often silly and cosmic in nature; the trailer, however, presents a very down-to-Earth, muted, and serious take on the subject matter. One specific talking point has been the costumes — or lack of costumes — as it doesn’t seem like the two main characters will be donning their Green Lantern outfits very often.
What did Grant Morrison say about Lanterns show and Damon Lindelof?
Back in 2024, Lindelof made an appearance on the Lovett or Leave It podcast and said, “It’s called Lanterns because we all agreed that the green was stupid. Now, it’s just Lanterns.” This comment has resurfaced online since the release of the show’s trailers.
On Substack, Morrison — who wrote a popular Green Lantern series, among other comics, such as All-Star Superman, Batman Incorporated, and many more — addressed Lindelof’s comment. Morrison wrote, “TV writer/producer Damon Lindelof’s comments notwithstanding, the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ green is not ‘stupid’. Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’? You don’t hand CSIscripts to patronising writers who condemn forensics experts and their haircuts as ‘stupid’, so why hire people who are ashamed and in denial about the comic book material they’ve been assigned to develop? Why don’t they turn down jobs they’re not suited for?
“It’s not like he needs the money, and Lindelof has proven that he can come up with his own ideas. What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway? Does Lindelof imagine it makes him seem less nerdy? It’s a bit too late for that, so what’s it all about? The only people who give a f—k about the Lanterns TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid’.
“Green Lanterns is a much more evocative and dramatic title than Lanterns, (just as Raise the Red Lantern is a better movie title than Raise the Lantern), and anyone who can’t grasp why that is shouldn’t be anywhere near superhero stories. The show might even be good, but how much better could this stuff be if studios were willing to hire the right people for the job instead of phoning their embarrassed friends to water the source material down? Hollywood will die of insularity and inbreeding.”
Lanterns premieres on HBO Max this August.
