Director James Hawes delves into, and clarifies, the comparisons that have popped up between the upcoming DC seriesLanternsand the hit HBO seriesTrue Detective. When James Gunn first announced his DCU plan for what he calledChapter 1 - Gods and Monsters, he pitchedLanternsas being likeTrue Detective. It certainly isn’t hard to see where that comparison comes from, asLanternsis being sold as a buddy cop series where the cops, here intergalactic police officers, investigate a mystery crime in the American heartland.
James Hawes, who serves as director for the first two episodes ofLanterns, dug into the tonal inspiration for the series while promoting his latest film,The Amateur. Hawes toldThe Hollywood Reporterthat the series has some similarities toTrue Detective, but the series and characters have a bit more humor to them thanTrue Detective. Hawes cited the work of the Coen brothers, particularlyNo Country for Old MenandFargo, as inspirations forLanterns. Hawes said:
“Talking tone, it looks and feels rooted. You meet two guys, but there is wit and comedy to it that you would not expect inTrueDetective. It is, in many ways, a buddy cop structure with travel in the story time, to and fro, that is really sophisticated. [Showrunner] Chris Mundy has done the most amazing job with the team there, and so I think [theTrue Detectivecomparison] is valid. People will still go, ‘What were you talking about?’ to some extent, but I would also bring inNo Country for Old Men,Fargoand things that have that Americana heart to them. There’s a wry humor, and so there definitely is more wit and humor than there is inTrue Detective.”
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James Gunn’s initial pitch ofLanternsbeing likeTrue Detectivewas coupled with his comparison of the upcoming Wonder Woman prequel series,Paradise Lost, toGame of Thrones. BothTrue DetectiveandGame of Thronesare HBO series, owned by DC Comics' parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. Clearly, there was a bit of cross-promotion, linking two aspects of Warner Bros. history.WithThe Penguinalso pulling heavily fromThe Sopranosand rumors circulating thatThe Righteous Gemstonecreators were at one point working onBooster Gold, it appears that DC’s HBO and Max series are pulling heavily from the company’s history.
There certainly are fans who are disappointed thatLanternsis taking the hard sci-fi concept of Green Lantern and grounding it as an Earth-based series. Yet, the idea of taking theTrue Detectivemodel of having two vastly different cops investigating a case is not a bad pitch for the Green Lantern concept, given the organization is coded as space police. While fans might have wanted a more traditional buddy cop sci-fi adventure,Lethal WeaponmeetsStar Trek, the direction thatLanternsis going in already sounds like a marked improvement over the 2011Green Lanternfilm.
Lanternsis currently filming in Los Angeles, California, and is expected to air on HBO in 2026.It is projected to debut beforeSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrowhits theaters on July 30, 2025, suggesting that it could be a spring or early summer series. The year 2026 is when the DCU machine fully kicks into overdrive. In addition toLanternsandSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,the horror-themed filmClayfacewill open in September of that year. While on the surface,Creature Commandos,Superman,PeacemakerSeason 2,Lanterns,Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, andClayfacemake for a seemingly random slate of projects to kick off a universe, it shows the vastly different tones and genres these stories can tell. A Green Lantern series that is partTrue Detectivebut also part Coen Brothers is a strong pitch, that’s for sure.
Source:The Hollywood Reporter
