James Gunn Hires Damon Lindelof, Tom King, and Chris Mundy To Work On 'Lanterns'

James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios, and writer-director of the upcoming film Superman, released a video online last February to announce the slate of upcoming projects that he, and fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran, had planned for the rebooted cinematic universe. One of those projects was a television series called Lanterns, which is expected to premiere on HBO. Gunn described it as “…the story of a couple of Green Lanterns, John Stewart and Hal Jordan, and we have a few other Lanterns peppered in there, but this is really a terrestrial-based TV show which is almost like True Detective, with a couple of Green Lanterns who are space cops watching over precinct Earth. In it, they discover a terrifying mystery that ties into our larger story of the DCU.”

There had been rumors on social media for months that Gunn was looking to hire Lost co-creator and Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof to work on Lanterns, and that he also approached comic book writer (and former CIA officer, as his detractors on the Internet are always eager to point out) Tom King to write for the series as well. This past weekend, Gunn used his accounts on Instagram and Threads to confirm that both Lindelof and King are now part of the creative team for Lanterns, along with Ozark showrunner Chris Mundy.

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One person on Threads asked Gunn why he chooses to confirm or debunk news and rumors about casting decisions or upcoming projects on social media instead of going the official route with publications like Variety or Deadline Hollywood. Gunn’s response?

According to entertainment news website Nexus Point News, other writers who are staffed to work on Lanterns, according to their WGA profiles, include Breanna Gibson (who is also writing for the upcoming HBO Max series The Penguin), Vanessa Baden Kelly (executive story editor for The Sex Lives of College Girls), and Justin Britt-Gibson (writer on Counterpart and Into the Badlands).

Of course, when it comes to James Gunn, and the fact that he’s now calling the shots when it comes to the DC Universe, his online naysayers often bring up Gunn’s troubling history of being an edgelord who often said ridiculously offensive sh-t on social media. A couple of them pointed out that back in 2012, Gunn posted on Facebook about the trailer for director Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus, and how nervous he was as to whether the film would be any good. On that same post, he said this about Lindelof, who co-wrote the screenplay: “Lindelof is close to Satan in my book because of the end of Lost. He’s the Uri Geller of storytellers, a total scam artist with no integrity whatsoever. And a liar.” However, there were several people on the Internet who pointed out that it wasn’t Gunn who said this about Lindelof on his official Facebook page, but some random person pretending to be Gunn. And then another person on Twitter pointed out that it really was Gunn who posted the comment on Facebook about Lindelof, but did it from his personal Facebook page instead of his more public Facebook page used for promotional purposes.

That was twelve years ago, and a lot has happened since then, including Gunn apologizing for how he conducted himself on social media, followed by Gunn getting fired by Disney; the Guardians of the Galaxy cast asking that Disney change their minds and hire him back (along with a large number of devoted fans who started a GoFundMe campaign to finance a digital billboard to help spread that message); Gunn being hired by Warner Bros. to write and direct The Suicide Squad for the DCEU; and getting rehired to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 before leaving Marvel and Disney behind to make and oversee comic book movies and television shows for their competition.

As for Lindelof, he was the showrunner for the critically acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers before he went on to win raves from critics and audiences, and also bring home a couple of Emmys, for his work on Watchmen. He co-wrote the controversial action film The Hunt with Nick Cuse (son of Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse), co-created the Peacock series Mrs. Davis with Tara Hernandez, and was Peppermint Petty towards Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin after the HBO series left many people feeling extremely disappointed with how it ended.

All that is left to do is for everyone to cross their fingers as they hope for Lanterns to be amazing and memorable to watch now that Lindelof and company are involved in its development, and that Lindelof’s behavior in the writers’ room won’t result in Maureen Ryan having to write about him and blow up his spot yet again for her next book.