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James Gunn’s upcoming DCU show on HBO Max, which will debut this year, makes up for the Arrowverse’s biggest failure. Love it or hate it, the Arrowverse played a major role in getting a more mainstream audience interested in the DC heroes and villains. The creative team built a multi-TV-show universe that connected the characters while also allowing them their own space to shine.
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However, the TV franchise’s biggest failure is the planned Green Lantern TV show, which would have been a perfect addition to the core six. Now that the Arrowverse is over, the DCU’s Lanterns TV show has the opportunity to make up for their failure.
The Arrowverse Teased A Green Lantern TV Show A Frustrating Number Of Times
The Arrowverse never shied away from the fact that other DC heroes existed that just weren’t shown onscreen or only had a brief cameo. Connor Hawke is out there. We get references to Batman and Superwoman. We see a photo of the old Justice Society of America. A deleted scene of The Flash references Aquaman.
However, the references to Green Lantern were on a completely different level. The Arrowverse wasn’t just making a small nod to the character. It’s clear that they were trying to set up a Green Lantern TV show based on the sheer number of times they reference the characters.
A flashback in Arrow season 4 gives a brief glimpse of a man in a Costal City bar wearing a bomber jacket with the name “Jordan” on it, and the man is lit up by neon green lighting. This shows where Hal Jordan was in the past. In the first episode of The Flash, they reference a pilot going missing from a Ferris Air testing site, which confirms Hal Jordan’s current location.
Ferris Air is repeatedly referenced in multiple seasons of Arrow and The Flash. Throughout the Arrowverse, we meet multiple Green Lantern characters, such as Susan Williams, Obsidian, Goldface, and Tattooed Man.
John Diggle is basically set up to be the Arrowverse’s version of John Stewart. He is a Black American military veteran whose stepfather is named Roy Stewart. In Elseworlds, the Earth-90 version of The Flash asks Diggle where his ring is. John being Green Lantern and Oliver being Green Arrow would be consistent with the comics, where versions of the heroes are friends.
For curious Arrowverse fans, the concept art for John Diggle’s Green Lantern costume has finally been revealed.
On top of that, OG Earth-2’s Barry Allen has Hal Jordan on speed dial, along with the rest of the Justice League of America. Post-crisis Earth-2 and Earth-12 are both shown to have the Green Lantern. In the Arrow finale, Diggle even sees an object fall to Earth and finds that it’s a glowing green box, implying he will become the Green Lantern in the Arrowverse.
This isn’t even an exhaustive list. I’m sure I missed multiple other references and Easter eggs. That’s just how many there were. Unfortunately, the Green Lantern TV show never came to fruition, making it frustrating that they built it up for nothing. James Gunn’s Lanterns show can make up for this.
Why The Arrowverse Abandoned Their Green Lantern TV Show Idea
In the years since Arrow ended, John Diggle’s actor, David Ramsay, has provided some context on why Green Lantern never directly became part of the Arrowverse during panels and interviews.
When I attended his and Emily Bett Rickards’ panel at Denver Fan Expo 2025 on behalf of ScreenRant, he confirmed that the Arrowverse was planning a Green Lantern show and noted that there was a lot of behind-the-scenes politics surrounding the property. He said:
“There were a lot of things going on at Warner Bros. and DC, there were president changes and regime changes. So Marc Guggenheim and I and some other executives were regularly like, ‘Hey, we really want to push this Green Lantern thing to make it possible.’ So there are some executives in DC, and Warner Bros. said yes. Others have said no…”
Ramsay also confirmed that the DCEU’s planned Green Lantern movie and HBO Max’s canceled Green Lantern TV show with Greg Berlanti played a role in the ultimate string of nos they received. He concluded by saying that he’s looking forward to seeing James Gunn’s Lanterns TV show.
Then, at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, he stated during Screen Rant’s Arrowverse Heroes panel that he thinks Diggle’s Green Lantern Twist (i.e., turning the ring down to prioritize his family) was the right choice.
Ramsay said the show “wasn’t for lack of trying, but the right decision was made.” He confessed, “I think, honestly, personally, there was so much going on at the time that it’s in the hands it should be in now. Because I’m not sure what would have happened with as much as was going on politically, with the property.”
Obviously, David Ramsay knows more about what was going on behind the scenes than I do, so I trust him when he says that the show not happening was for the best. However, it doesn’t change the fact that it still feels the Arrowverse’s biggest failure after they teased it so hard for so long.
DC’s Lanterns Finally Gives The Green Lanterns The Live-Action TV Show They Deserve
Green Lantern fans have gotten the short end of the stick with the bad movie, the Arrowverse’s cancelled Green Lantern TV show, Greg Berlanti’s canceled Green Lantern TV show, and the Snyderverse’s canceled Green Lantern movie.
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Luckily, DC’s Lanterns can finally give the Green Lanterns and the Lantern Corps a great live-action story focused solely on them. No distractions from the rest of the Justice League. No minor cameos in another character’s show or movie.
Lanterns can really dig into the vast lore and mythology of the Corps. After all, Green Lantern and the Corps were a seminal part of DC Comics. It’s better that their world is fleshed out in a longer format that gives them the time and attention they deserve. Plus, we can develop a strong connection to the new onscreen versions of John Stewart and Hal Jordan.
