HBO’s ‘Lanterns’ gives green lantern a gritty, true detective-style makeover

Los Angeles: How do you make Green Lantern gritty?It is a question that has haunted the character since Martin Campbell’s 2011 film, with Ryan Reynolds navigating a neon-green CGI spectacle he would later lampoon as Marvel’s wisecracking Deadpool.

HBO is now attempting an answer. The network’s upcoming series Lanterns transplants the cosmic premise – a magic ring, an intergalactic police force and a battery that runs on willpower – into a prestige-procedural set in rural Americana, in a style reminiscent of True Detective.

Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and comic-book writer Tom King, with Mundy as showrunner and James Gunn and Peter Safran among its executive producers, the eight-episode series balances small-town crime drama and character-driven television, punctuated by bursts of DC mythology.

Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre lead the series. The duo’s chemistry provides a human core to the show without sanding away the inherent absurdity of being a Green Lantern, early reviews suggest.

The series is made by people coming at the material from very different directions, a creative tug that is felt throughout its run as it bounces between grounded detective work and intergalactic lore.