Ratched star Finn Wittrock to play ‘hulking mass of masculinity’ in Green Lantern reboot
Finn Wittrock. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty)
Finn Wittrock is set to play Guy Gardner, one of several Green Lantern characters, in an upcoming television adaptation for HBO Max.
The Ratched and American Horror Story star will play the “macho” 1980s iteration of the superhero in gay producer Greg Berlanti’s hotly-anticipated anthology series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Finn Wittrock will play “a hulking mass of masculinity, and, as rendered in the comics, an embodiment of 1980s hyper-patriotism” in the decades-spanning series.
Green Lantern is actually the name of several superheroes who have appeared in various DC Comics since the 1940s, with each character holding a magical ring that grants them special powers.
Berlanti’s series will depict numerous Green Lanterns from DC Comics’ history, including “secretly gay FBI agent” Alan Scott, whose story begins in 1941.
Producers have not yet announced who will play Scott in the upcoming series, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter that they are on the brink of signing a deal with an actor.
Green Lantern series will explore Alan Scott’s sexuality
There has been much excitement among queer DC Comics fans about the upcoming Green Lantern adaptation.
It was confirmed in October 2020 that Scott will be depicted in the series alongside other Green Lanterns, and producers were happy to tell fans that the show will explore his sexuality.
The series will also depict other Green Lanterns such as Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz alongside fan favourites Sinestro and Kilowog. It will also introduce new superheroes into the superheroes’ ranks.
Seth Grahame-Smith was previously announced as writer and showrunner on the 10-part series, and he is joined in the writers’ room by Marc Guggenheim.
Speaking at the HBO Max WarnerMedia Day Presentation in 2019, Berlanti promised that the series will be “unlike anything seen on television”.
“In what promises to be our biggest DC show ever made, we will be going to space with a Green Lantern television series,” he said at the time.
Alan Scott became the first Green Lantern superhero when he was created in 1940 by Martin Nodell, but he was later reinvented as Hal Jordan in 1959.
Hal Jordan was later depicted in 2011 by Ryan Reynolds in a widely-panned feature film.
