Green Lantern: Greg Berlanti Says 2011 Flop Was “Heartbreaking” but “Led to Wonderful Things”

Greg Berlanti has had a very successful run with DC Comics series like Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Black Lightning and Superman & Lois. But sometimes in order to hit a home run, you have to strike out, and Berlanti did just that with 2011’s Green Lantern. When Green Lantern was released it was hated by fans and critics alike, and even the star of the film, Ryan Reynolds, makes jokes about it to this day.

The DCTV producer helped craft the story for the film with Marc Guggenheim and it ultimately fell flat with audiences. If you ever wondered if the Green Lantern misfire affected him in anyway, now’s your chance to find out. In a recent interview Berlanti revealed how he feels about his past failure.

“We’re actually working on a Green Lantern series for HBO Max, so it’s come full circle. The movie did introduce me more to the folks at DC, which led to Arrow.” Berlanti told The Hollywood Reporter. “So while it was heartbreaking on the film side, it ultimately led to wonderful things on the television side.”

Guggenheim, who is also an executive producer on the upcoming Green Lantern series on HBO Max, previously revealed that the duo would make the series feel like a featured film. 

“I happen to believe — and this is not a universally-held opinion — that you can’t do a ten-hour show or an eight-episode show, like an 8-hour movie,” Guggenheim said. “I don’t think that works. When I see it done, there’s always some flabby episodes in the middle. I think you have to approach it like a TV series and approach each episode like its own entity. Even though it’s streaming, even though hopefully people will binge it, you’ve got to make each episode a satisfying meal. You’ve got to look at it with a different tempo than you would have in a two-hour movie. That being said, certainly the show for HBO Max that wye’re all working on, we are approaching it with the production ambitions of a movie. So we’re writing it like a TV show but we’re hoping to produce it like a film.”

Green Lantern is expected to hit HBO Max sometime in the near future. The series will feature a story that spans multiple decades and galaxies. The story begins on Earth in 1941 featuring the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, happens to be a secretly gay FBI agent. Then the series will move on to 1984 and introduce audiences to the infamous Guy Gardner, played by Finn Wittrock, and half-alien Bree Jarta. The series will also feature a number of other Green Lantern’s including Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, and a multitude of other Emerald Knights. 

Superman & Lois director Lee Toland Krieger will helm the first two episodes of the series with Seth Grahame-Smith serving as show runner. Berlanti and Guggenheim are set to executive produce the series with Geoff Johns, Sarah Schechter, David Madden and David Katzenberg. Elizabeth Hunter and Sara Saedi co-executive produce. 

Are you excited for the upcoming Green Lantern series on HBO Max? Or do you think Berlanti and Guggenheim have another misfire on their hands? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @NateBrail up on Twitter!