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Hold onto your baseball caps because Eric Taylor, AKA the coach from Friday Night Lights, AKA Kyle Chandler, is going to star as Hal Jordan in a Green Lantern series for HBO, according to Hollywood Reporter and Deadline. The in-development show, called “Lanterns,” will apparently have a darker, grittier vibe more akin to True Detective than that of some other TV outings DC comic book heroes have received.
The eight episode series will reportedly focus on the grizzled, veteran Lantern Hal Jordan, played by Chandler, “reluctantly” mentoring the newbie John Stewart, his eventual replacement and one of DC’s first Black superheroes, as they investigate a murder. The show reportedly has Chris Mundy (Ozark), Damon Lindelof (Watchmen, Lost) and comics writer Tom King signed on, with filming aiming to start early next year.
This would be by far the biggest role Chandler has landed since starring in Friday Night Lights, the prestige sports soap opera chronicling the virtues and struggles of high school football players in a small Texas town. It went five seasons and eventually won Chandler an Emmy. Prior to that, he was best known for the CBS series Early Edition about a guy morally burdened by the knowledge of the future thanks to getting a magical edition of the Chicago Sun-Times 24 hours ahead of time.
Lanterns also marks the first time fans will have gotten a live-action look at Green Lantern since the 2011 movie starring Ryan Reynolds. Despite references here and there in TV shows like Smallville and Arrow, the character has never gotten much dedicated screen time outside of animated series and movies, even missing out on Zack Snyder’s stab at a Justice League-fueled DCU. The Lantern series follows this fall’s Penguin spin-off, however, which has received decent reviews.
Hopefully, the HBO take on Green Lantern similarly puts story and characters ahead of comic book easter eggs and action set pieces. Time for Chandler to go from practicing “clear eyes, full heart” to “in brightest day, in blackest night.”
