'Lanterns' DC Universe Series Finds Its Writers
'Lanterns' DC Universe Series Finds Its Writers
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn confirms three familiar names from 'Ozark', 'Lost', and the studio’s own writers’ room
DC Studios is filling its hands and all is going according to plan. After Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow found a release date, maintaining itself as the second DC Universe film project with steady updates, it made sense that a third Max-bound TV project after Creature Commandos and Peacemaker season 2 would emerge with the beginning of its own production. And this week, it became time to beware their power, as industry listings for Lanterns revealed its writers.
WGA directory listings had both Damon Lindelof and Chris Mundy listed as the series’ writers, but early Saturday, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn not only confirmed them, but a third member, saying “Yes, it’s true. The Lanterns DCU series is putting together a crack team of writers, based on a wonderful pilot script and bible by Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof. A hearty welcome to Chris and damonlindelof as they join the DC Studios family (no welcome necessary for old tomking_tk, who has been here nearly since inception).” Indeed, King, whose Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow story is the basis of the Universe’s 2026 film starring Milly Alcock, was revealed to be part of the studio’s general writers’ room when the slate of the Universe’s first chapter was revealed in January 2023, along with Christal Henry, Drew Goddard, Jeremy Slater, and Christina Hobson. It is not that he was with the Lanterns series since the beginning, as The Wrap wrote, that is a blatant misreading of what Gunn, who has Superman and the aforementioned Creature Commandos and Peacemaker season 2 on his plate, said.
When Gunn and his co-CEO Peter Safran first unveiled the slate for this “Gods and Monsters” chapter, they described Lanterns as a “huge HBO-quality event” that is “very much in the vein of True Detective” as a “terrestrial-based investigation story”, so getting Ozark showrunner Mundy, who was an executive producer on the former’s most recent season subtitled Night Country, seems like a good way to capture that spirit. Focusing on the two most well-known Lanterns of public consciousness, Hal Jordan and John Stewart, it “plays a really big role leading into the main story that we’re telling across our film and television,” Safran teased at the time. “So this is a very important show for us.” The series replaced a long in-development Green Lantern series that was one of the first originals announced pre-launch for HBO Max, which went through several of its own iterations. As of October 2020 it was to explore a multitude of Lanterns, including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Alan Scott, and even completely new Lanterns before narrowing to Gardner and Scott, going as far to cast Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine in the roles, before shifting solely to John Stewart. From Berlanti Productions, Safran described it as a space opera.
Lindelof is probably the most well-known to casual audiences as the co-creator and co-showrunner of ABC juggernaut Lost, leading to several screenwriting opportunities toward the end of the series, including director and Lost co-creating partner J. J. Abrams’s first two Star Trek films, as well as Prometheus, World War Z, and Tomorrowland. He returned to TV to create HBO’s acclaimed dramas The Leftovers and his first foray into DC Comics adaptation, the Watchmen limited series. Most recently he’s behind Peacock sci-fi comedy Mrs. Davis and was replaced as co-writer of the Rey-starring Star Wars movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy due to creative differences.
Subsequently, when asked by Threads user wondertwt why he’s so selective about confirming and debunking what the trades report, Gunn replied “Often times news sources break things while we’re in talks and the deal may not work out - sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes I don’t want to or it’s sensitive stuff. A lot of times it’s wrong and not worth dealing with. And a lot of times I don’t see stuff. In this case our publicist told me about it and that Chris and Damon were credited in the trades but not Tom which didn’t seem fair. So I posted this.” This explains why he didn’t confirm the casting of Ma and Pa Kent until last Saturday, May 18, commemorating their comics debut anniversary. Or at least, invokes scenarios A or D.
Sources: The Wrap, Batman News, James Gunn on Threads