Over a decade since starring in a notorious DC flop, Josh Brolin has been asked to join the cast of Lanterns, it seems.
Because Josh Brolin is pretty uniformly excellent as an actor, his occasional forays into the world of superhero movies have rewarded us with a couple of notable Marvel characters. His taciturn take on Cable worked as a straight man to Ryan Reynolds Deadpool in 2018’s Deadpool 2, while his Thanos would be in any discussion for the greatest comic book villain of all time, no mean feat considering some of performances he’d be judged against.
2010’s Jonah Hex didn’t reach the same level of success as those other characters, with Brolin’s one collaboration with DC not really working out to anybody’s satisfaction. Still, it looks like the actor may have been offered an opportunity to finally create a definitive take on a DC character, with reports from multiple outlets stating that he has been offered the role of Hal Jordan in the planned HBO series, Lanterns.
The show is set to expand the DC Universe into the cosmos with the Green Lantern Corps. To the uninitiated, they’re essentially space cops with magic rings. The upcoming show is one that Damon Lindelof of The Leftovers and Watchmen fame has written alongside Tom King, who penned the upcoming Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow.
For a show about cosmic rangers with magic rings, it looks pretty grounded and is set to follow the characters of John Stewart and ‘Lantern legend Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.’
The Jordan character has of course made the transition to the screen before in 2011’s Green Lantern. Ryan Reynolds played Jordan in that film which like Jonah Hex a year earlier, didn’t really work out.
Casting Brolin will be a real statement of intent for Lanterns though and should he accept, he’ll be joining Nathan Fillion in the cast. Fillion will play Guy Gardner, another member of the Lanterns. As for who plays John Stewart, we don’t yet know but Idris Elba would surely be a great shout. We’ll bring you more on this one as we hear it.
