‘Lanterns’: DC Boss Officially Addresses Ryan Reynolds’ Return Rumors!!

Only a month remains until DC’s latest live-action series, Lanterns, hits HBO Max. The show will star Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, respectively, two members of the Green Lantern Corps, as they investigate a murder in Nebraska. But despite the show already being close to its release date, James Gunn has returned to social media to address a rumor spreading about this next DC character’s debut.

Whenever he’s not busy working on DC films and TV shows or making cameo appearances in other projects like Rick and Morty, the DC co-chair spends time on social media to address the numerous rumors circulating about the DC franchise. While a lot of it has something to do with either Batman or Teen Titans, this latest one has something to do with Lanterns casting.

Over on social media, a fan asked whether Ryan Reynolds was originally going to reprise his role as Hal Jordan in Lanterns, and whether Gunn asked the Deadpool actor if he wanted to return to the franchise. For context, Reynolds played Hal Jordan in 2011’s Green Lantern movie, which also starred Blake Lively (It Ends with Us), Peter Sarsgaard (The Batman), Mark Strong (The Mighty Nein), and Angela Bassett (Black Panther). Gunn responded that Reynolds‘ message was meant to congratulate him on getting the DC gig, and that the offer in question was a joke.

“Not really. Ryan wrote to congratulate me the day I got the job, and I jokingly asked him if he was ready to don the suit again, and he jokingly responded.”

Is 2011’s ‘Green Lantern’ Worth Watching?

The 2011 Green Lantern movie stars Reynolds as Hal Jordan, a pilot who was chosen by the Green Lantern ring when its previous owner, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), commands it to find a worthy successor. Meanwhile, an alien called Parallax (Clancy Brown) escapes from prison and heads to Earth. Since its release, Green Lantern has barely recouped its reported $200 million budget at the box office, grossing $237 million worldwide. It was also heavily criticized, receiving a 25% critics’ score and 45% audience score. Critics claimed it was a “muddled mess of a superhero film” and didn’t have the potential to “ensure a long-running franchise.” It was so bad that a post-credit scene in Deadpool 2 had Deadpool killing Reynolds when he got the script for the DC film. Collider‘s Bill Graham gave Green Lantern a C+ in his review, saying there was so much going on in a 105-minute film, but he praised its cast, including Reynolds‘ performance as Hal Jordan.