With HBO’s Lanterns now finished, Arrowverse showrunner Marc Guggenheim has revealed a fuller look at Emerald Knights, an abandoned Green Lantern Corps project originally developed with a more traditional CW-style superhero scope.
Where Lanterns centred on the uneasy partnership between Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Emerald Knights appears to have aimed for a much larger ensemble. Concept art posted on Guggenheim’s Substack depicts seven Lanterns making a last stand against snarling alien creatures.
A broader Green Lantern Corps story
The artwork includes Guy Gardner, whose appearance is closer to the 1990s version of Kyle Rayner than the familiar Gardner design, alongside Kilowog. A figure resembling Sinestro can also be seen from behind, identifiable mainly by a remarkably pink head.
The proposed series would have focused on Gardner and Bree Jarta, an original character created for the project. Although concept art does not confirm casting, the designs bear a notable resemblance to American Horror Story actor Finn Wittrock and musician Janelle Monáe.
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Two timelines and a different enemy
Emerald Knights shared several structural ideas with the finished Lanterns. Both projects were built around stories spanning multiple eras, although the earlier proposal reached further back in time.
Gardner’s part of the story would have unfolded during the 1980s, while the project also featured the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, in a 1940s setting. The central threat was likewise not Hal Jordan’s famous rival, Sinestro. Instead, the Manhunters were positioned as the main antagonists.
In Lanterns, the Manhunters took on a stronger Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style quality. That gives the released series a more unsettling identity than the straightforward cosmic conflict suggested by the earlier material.
Why Emerald Knights disappeared
Despite its connection to the Green Lantern mythology, Emerald Knights was not planned as another long-running Arrowverse entry. Guggenheim’s pitch, on which he worked largely as a writer, was also commissioned by HBO in 2020.
The project fell apart around 2022, during a turbulent period for Warner Bros. and its DC properties as the so-called Snyderverse moved towards its conclusion. In 2024, James Gunn took over the wider DCU and ultimately guided the Green Lantern project that became the Lanterns series.
That final show adopted a noticeably different tone and worked within more restrained budgetary limits. Its central appeal came from the charisma and friction between its two leads rather than constant superhero spectacle.
From cosmic concept art to finished television
Some critics wanted larger battles and more direct connections to the comics, while others found the series’ quieter approach more distinctive. The contrast between the seven-Lantern battlefield in the Emerald Knights artwork and the grounded direction of Lanterns shows how dramatically a project can change between development and release.
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