Why “Lanterns” Is Going Grounded, Not Cosmic

The biggest discussions surrounding HBO and DC Studios’ upcoming “Lanterns” series have all been about tone and how it’s opting for something grounded and contained, rather than epic and cosmic.

Going into production, the series was described as essentially a “True Detective”-style series involving the hunt for a killer in the American heartland. The only difference? It would involve two Green Lanterns as the protagonists.

This came across in the first released trailer back in March, which featured only one obvious FX shot in which Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan takes flight. A backlash soon followed from fans expecting some level of cosmic imagery.

Chris Mundy (“True Detective: Night Country”) is showrunner and executive producer and writes the series with Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and comic book scribe Tom King (“Supergirl”).

Mundy spoke with ComicBook.com this week and was asked if adopting that more grounded and serious approach akin to other HBO shows was a challenge with this material:

“It was less challenging than it was just exciting. Our take was that we have this incredibly rich mythology within the Green Lantern canon, and we have this incredibly rich history of Sunday night HBO shows – everything from The Sopranos to Game of Thrones and in between.

The fun of it was to try to create a real, layered drama that dealt with who these characters are as human beings while still staying true to the spirit of what makes the comics so special.

We wanted it to be accessible for anyone who doesn’t know the canon but, at the same time, satisfying for people who know the lore in minute detail. So, yes, it was challenging, but only in the way that the most fun things are.”

Along with Chandler, the series also stars Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Jasmine Cephas Jones.

“Lanterns” releases on HBO from August 16th.