DC TV Shows That Were Canceled Before They Were Even Made

In the live-action world, DC hasn't had a lot of luck with the Green Lantern. First off, the 2011 film starring Ryan Reynolds, which was meant to kickstart the DCEU, flopped at the box office and made $219 million from a $200 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). Then, the attempts to introduce the hero in the Arrowverse were largely a start-stop affair, as The CW never fully unleashed John Diggle as the new Green Lantern. There seemed to be some hope on the horizon, though, as the Arrowverse's mastermind, Greg Berlanti, began work on a "Green Lantern" TV series for HBO Max in 2019, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Here's what we know so far — Berlanti brought in Seth Grahame-Smith as a writer and showrunner for the series. Grahame-Smith is no novice to the comic book adaptation side of things, having written the story for "The Lego Batman Movie." The showrunner got to work on the "Green Lantern" show, and two leads were cast in the shape of Finn Wittrock and Jeremy Irvine as Guy Gardner and Alan Scott respectively, per Deadline. The show would have featured other Lanterns from the comics, as well as a new Lantern named Bree Jarta. 

Grahame-Smith completed eight episodes for the first season, however in October 2022, a decision was made to pivot in a different direction and make the show about John Stewart, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The showrunner departed the show thereafter.