HBO Max's Green Lantern has cast a lead actor – and the show sounds ambitious

Finn Wittrock in Ratched
(Image credit: COURTESY OF NETFLIX)

HBO Max’s upcoming Green Lantern show has found one of its leads, with news that Ratched actor Finn Wittrock will play Guy Gardner, a member of the Green Lantern Corps. 

This casting news comes via Deadline (and was retweeted by HBO Max's comms team, suggesting it's the real deal), who report that Wittrock will play one of multiple Green Lantern heroes set to appear in the series. Wittrock has received two Emmy nominations for his roles as Dandy Mott in American Horror Story: Freak Show and Jeffrey Trail in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

The Green Lantern show, which doesn't yet have a release date, will apparently span several decades and galaxies. That's the really cool part about this project, by the sounds of it: the Guy Gardner sections of Green Lantern will take place in 1984, according to the report, while another part of the series will follow gay FBI agent and first Green Lantern Alan Scott back in 1941. 

The Alan Scott sections will be set on Earth, while the Guy Gardner parts of the show sound more cosmic. It seems like an ambitious series, which is what makes it an exciting proposition.

Expect more Green Lantern characters to turn up, too: writers Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Seth Grahame-Smith will take inspiration from all iterations of the DC character. 

Which other Green Lanterns will appear?

Right now, we don't know how many versions of the DC superhero will appear in this show, but alongside Guy Gardner and Alan Scott, we'd hope to see notable characters like John Stewart, Hal Jordan, Jessica Cruz and Sinestro turn up. 

Scott was the comic's first version of the character and a founding member of the original Justice League, while Jessica is a more recent addition who first appeared in 2014 and is part of the animated DC Superhero Girls show.

Those who've watched the widely-mocked 2011 Green Lantern movie may remember Sinestro, where he was played by Mark Strong. Silver Age Lantern Hal Jordan arguably remains the best-known version of the character – though John Stewart was the Green Lantern who notably starred in the Justice League animated series.

Hamish Hector
Senior Staff Writer, News

Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for TechRadar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.

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