In darkest day, in blackest night, Matlock and Accused actor Jason Ritter is ready to bask in Green Lantern’s light. Ritter is the latest star to join DC and HBO’s Lanterns, a television series revolving around the comic publisher’s imaginative space cops series. Ritter joins Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, and Kelly MacDonald for the series spearheaded by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and comic book mastermind and author Tom King.
According to reports, Jason Ritter will play Billy Macon for Lanterns, “a good-looking charmer who does his father’s (Garret Dillahunt) bidding. Capitalizing on his family’s reputation, he clings to his small-town ego and has everything to lose.”
Previously, we learned that Lanterns will have True Detective vibes (let’s hope it’s the first season), with Green Lanterns Hal Jordan (Chandler) and Jon Stewart (Pierre) investigating an Earth-based murder mystery in the American heartland. Poorna Jagannathan (Zoe), and Ulrich Thomsen (Sinestro) also star in the series. HBO produces the eight-episode series with Warner Bros Television and DC Studios. Mundy, who serves as showrunner, Lindelof, and King are co-writing and executive producing.
Lanterns experienced backlash when DC revealed the show would take a “grounded” and “believable” approach to the comic property’s over-the-top premise and Kyle Chandler’s casting as Hal Jordan. However, DC Studio’s boss, James Gunn, is unconcerned about misinformed fans. Speaking with IGN, Gunn said, “Wait a second, comic book fans had an opinion on casting. What are you talking about!?”
“The truth is Chris [Mundy] and Tom [King] and Damon [Lindelof] wrote an amazing series, like an incredible series. I’m so excited for people to see this. It’s very grounded, very believable, very real. The kind of things that you would never think that would be the truth about a Green Lanterns television series. And very human, adult and wonderful. And the story that they wrote fit a couple of actors who were of these ages and so that’s who they cast. Those were their choices. I totally backed them up. I love them.”
Honestly? I’m here for it. I hope the Lanterns use their rings to help solve the mystery, but I’ll reserve judgment until we see the final product. Additionally, I’m the type of person who appreciates when creative forces think outside the box and give us something unexpected. If I wanted a traditional Green Lantern, I’d pick up one of the thousands of comics available in stores and online apps.
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