The DCU’s newest release, Lanterns, is proving to be incredibly popular, which is great news for the franchise that had a solid success with Superman (2025) but then, just a year later, experienced a serious drop with the reception of Supergirl earlier this summer. Notably, Lanterns is a show that releases episodes weekly rather than a blockbuster movie, although that arguably makes the show’s current success even more impressive; superhero franchises certainly know that TV shows present their own unique challenges—just look at the devastating news that Spider-Noir was just cancelled after one season.
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Yet, in spite of those challenges, Lanterns has been performing quite well. In fact, the show has garnered enough attention that Green Lantern star Ryan Reynolds expressed not only positivity about the show but also sincere interest in being involved with the project. In a recent interview, he said, “I would totally do a cameo in that. I love it,” in addition to saying of his experience working on Green Lantern (in spite of its status as a box office and critical flop), “Everything about it was like a gift that keeps on giving, and I really enjoyed the experience of making it.” With that enthusiasm, it seems Reynolds inspired a response from HBO Max, although there’s little doubt this wasn’t quite what Reynolds had been picturing.
HBO’s Video Response Was Completely Unexpected (& Perfect)
HBO was clearly ready to have a bit of fun after learning of Reynolds’ interest in having a cameo in the show, as the company’s official X account released a video yesterday in a post that said, “Spotted,” tagged Reynolds, and used a hashtag for Lanterns. The video itself shows a clip from Reynolds’ previously mentioned interview, specifically the part where he said, “I would totally do a cameo in that,” and it then cut to a clip of John and Hal in Lanterns looking up at the sky. Just after Hal says, “What the f—k is that,” the video shows Reynolds flying as Green Lantern from his 2011 movie.
Presumably, this is all in good fun, and it doesn’t automatically mean that Reynolds won’t actually have a cameo at some point in Lanterns. If anything, it feels like superhero movie and TV show tradition at this point not just to have cameos but to have cameos from stars who have played the same roles or similar roles before. However, those in the comments of the HBO Max post had some strong opinions to the contrary, with one commenter writing, “You spent the better part of a decade trashing the Green Lantern name,” and another saying, “There you go DC, stand up for yourself lol.” Yet another, perhaps slightly angrier comment reads, “Ryan s—t talked his Green Lantern movie for a decade and now suddenly he wants to ‘come back.’ No.” Even so, a Reynolds cameo in Lanterns is far from off the table—and, clearly, he’s game.
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