Geoff Johns on How ‘Green Lantern’ Movie Is Deeply Personal

Geoff Johns is trying to work his Green Lantern magic on an anticipated movie reboot of the Green Lantern Corps, and it’s something that is quite personal to the acclaimed writer.

Johns sat down with ComicBook.com at San Diego Comic-Con to talk about many of his upcoming projects. That roster includes the relaunch of Green Lantern, and like most things Johns does it is something he desperately wants to get right.

“I’ve started I just can’t really talk…it’s just too early,” Johns said. “The truth is I really want to write a great script and get the script right and then we’ll talk more about it once we get really going. Because we talk about development all the time and people like, development gets out there and leaks and this is really something again like Stargirl is very personal to me.”

“I want to make sure I write the best script I can possibly write, so I need to go away in a cave and write that script and finish it and then come out and go ‘okay’ and work with the guys and really make sure we’ve got the best story to tell and the best way into this character. I think we have a lot of things in it that…people know my run from Green Lantern and so they shouldn’t be too surprised by seeing what we bring into it,” Johns said.

Fans of his acclaimed run on the title can anticipate some of those elements, like the introduction of the emotional spectrum, which made the green power of Will one of several power sets in the DCU along with Compassion (Violet), Rage (Red), Hope (Blue), and more.

It also constructed a reason for Hal turning against his fellow Lanterns thanks to the power of Parallax, who is the entity at the center of Fear (Yellow), which Sinestro has been a faithful servant of.

Moving from DC Entertainment proper to his own production company should allow for him to give the script the necessary attention it needs to fulfill its potential.

“Well really in my new role at my production company Mad Ghost I’m focused on ya know things I’m writing and things I’m producing…so Green Lantern. I’m really focused on that right now than…you know Walter Hamada who’s doing an awesome job over there and I love working with Walter. He’s really focusing on the wider slate so I can go in and just, I want to do, I want to do projects that I have my hands on as a writer and producer. That’s really what I’m focused on. But there’s super exciting stuff coming up. Matt Reeves’ Batman. Birds of Prey is going to be really awesome. Cathy’s amazing. There’s great talent behind those.”

You can view the entire interview in the video above.

Green Lantern Corps is slated to hit theaters on July 24, 2020.