Damon Lindelof Clarifies ‘Lantern’ Comments

If you don’t know anything about DC Comics or Green Lantern, I would imagine that based on the trailers for the new HBO Max series Lanterns, you might think it’s a show about a pair of drifters with strange powers who get mixed up in a small-town mystery. There are no costumes on display, and for a show about a character called “Green Lantern,” the whole color palette is very dusty and drab.

That choice has not enamored Lanterns to longtime Green Lantern fans — but they were really displeased with series co-creator Damon Lindelof when he recently said on the Lovett or Leave It podcast that the Lanterns creative team had removed the word ‘green’ from the show’s title “because we all agreed that the ‘Green’ was stupid, so now it’s just Lanterns.”

When those remarks started circulating online, longtime comic book writer (including of an acclaimed run on Green Lantern) Grant Morrison wrote an angry response on his Substack, saying

“the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ green is not ‘stupid’. Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’? You don’t hand CSI scripts to patronizing writers who condemn forensics experts and their haircuts as ‘stupid’, so why hire people who are ashamed and in denial about the comic book material they’ve been assigned to develop?

“The only people who give a f— about the Lanterns TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid,’” he added.

Those remarks prompted a response from Lindelof himself, who posted a photo on his Instagram account of his first trip to Comic-Con where he wore, of all things, a Green Lantern T-shirt.

Calling his prior comments “a dumb joke on a comedy podcast,” Lindelof added that he felt owed fans “an explanation and a genuine reflection of my actual feelings.”

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Lindelof clarified his fandom for Hal Jordan, claimed “green is not stupid, it is my lifelong favorite color” and insisted “it would be a betrayal to everyone I worked for and alongside to say anything other than I was absolutely honored to be a part of the team that manifested the incredible construct that is Lanterns… because it was.”

He closed by saying “I was sloppy and careless with my words, ironic considering I care so much about Hal, John and the entire Corps. I can and will do better to be worthy of the oath… until then, I’ll let the show speak for itself and I can’t wait for you all to hear what it has to say.” 

Lanterns is scheduled to premiere on HBO Max in August. I would assume there will be some green in the show somewhere, even if it’s not necessarily on display in the trailers so far? Also … what an appropriate controversy for St. Patrick’s Day.