A new Green Lantern is about to shine
Finn Wittrock of American Horror Story has been cast in the HBO Max Green Lantern series but not as Hal Jordan.
Rather, he’ll be playing infamously hot-tempered Green Lantern Guy Gardner, whose attitude promises to shake the show up.
Who is Guy Gardner?
Debuting in Green Lantern vol 2 #59, Guy Gardner rose from a troubled childhood to become a football star, a cop and a caseworker. He was also fearless, which lent well to becoming a Green Lantern.
It would be revealed that when Green Lantern Abin Sur crashed on Earth and sent his ring to find a successor, Guy was just as worthy of being chosen, but Hal Jordan was closer.
Eventually, Guy was selected as a backup Lantern to Hal, and the two were friendly. But Guy was injured saving some civilians and was put into a coma.
When he awoke, Guy was now a belligerent, arrogant jerk who proclaimed himself the “Greatest Green Lantern.” He would be a member of the Justice League International but nearly start World War III attacking the Soviet Union.
It built to a classic scene of Guy challenging Batman, who laid him out with a single punch. This led to Guy briefly having a sweet-natured personality before reverting to his jerk attitude.
Guy and Hal eventually fought to decide who would be Earth’s Green Lantern, with Hal winning. Guy managed to gain Sinestro’s old yellow power ring to remain a hero.
After Hal became the twisted Parallax and wiped out the Green Lantern Corps, he destroyed Guy’s ring. Guy then discovered he secretly had alien DNA that allowed him to manifest weapons and went around as Warrior.
When Hal fought off the Parallax influence and restarted the Corps, one effect was Guy restored to his old body with a power ring. He would continue to be a leader in the Corps, still with his obnoxious bearing, but his courage also proving his worth as a Lantern.
Guy on the show
Written by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Seth Grahame-Smith, the series promises to examine various periods in Green Lantern history.
The series is still casting an actor for Alan Scott, the first Lantern in the 1940s. Guy’s era will, fittingly, be the 1980s and showcase him as a Lantern fitting the period’s attitudes.
The series description has Guy as “a hulking mass of masculinity, and, as rendered in the comics, an embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism. And yet, Guy is somehow likable.”
Guy’s addition is surprising as, while popular, his nature can rub some the wrong way and he is not as mainstream of a choice as fellow Lanterns Hal Jordan, John Stewart, or Kyle Rayner.
Yet, it can be the actor will fit the anthology appeal of the series and showcase that not everyone bearing the ring is a typical hero.
Wittrock is best known for his roles in the Ryan Murphy horror anthology series American Horror story, earning an Emmy nomination for the Freak Show season. He earned a second nomination for Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace and set to appear in the next AHS installment, Double Feature.
Reportedly, Wittrock had been pursued by the Green Lantern producers for some time and was able to accept the role of Guy when the second season of Netflix’s Ratched series was delayed.
While his choice may be offbeat, the addition of Guy promises to give this Green Lantern show a fun edge.
Green Lantern set to debut on HBO Max in 2022.