Grant Morrison has weighed in on HBO’s Lanterns – and the acclaimed comic book writer is not entirely sold on DC Studios’ stripped-down take on the Green Lantern mythology.
Writing on his Xanaduum Substack, Morrison said he felt “obliged” to watch the premiere after previously criticizing producer Damon Lindelof’s dismissal of the color green and what Morrison described as a broader rejection of traditional superhero conventions.
Morrison found plenty to like in the performances, particularly Aaron Pierre as John Stewart.
He praised Pierre’s “quiet and uptight performance,” while also crediting Kyle Chandler with giving the series a strong center.
But when it came to Chandler’s interpretation of Hal Jordan, Morrison was far less convinced.
“He wasn’t any Hal Jordan I recognised,” Morrison wrote, adding that “willpower and booze don’t mix for a start.”
Even so, Morrison said Chandler’s performance was strong enough to keep him watching.
His larger issue was with the show’s deliberately grounded approach.
“Way too much tell, not enough show,” Morrison wrote, arguing that comparisons to True Detective ultimately work against the series rather than in its favor.
He also took issue with the relative absence of familiar Green Lantern imagery, particularly the lack of costumes and ring-generated constructs.
“The lack of costumes and ring effects was glaring,” Morrison wrote, though he acknowledged that budget considerations and a desire to distance the series from the 2011 Green Lantern movie may have influenced that decision.
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That led Morrison to a broader question: why make a Green Lantern series at all if the goal is to minimize the cosmic spectacle traditionally associated with the property?
He argued that DC has plenty of more grounded heroes better suited to a lower-cost approach, while Green Lantern should theoretically operate on a scale closer to Star Trek or Star Wars.
Morrison’s reaction comes as Lanterns continues to earn strong reviews overall, with much of the praise focused on Pierre, Chandler and the series’ central mystery.
The first two episodes are now streaming on HBO Max, leaving six episodes for the series to potentially lean further into the costumes, constructs and cosmic mythology Morrison and some fans are still waiting to see.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
