News Lanterns Grant Morrison Wants More Sci-Fi in Lanterns: “Why Try to Make a Green Lantern Show on a Budget?” “Too much tell, not enough show” By Matthew Byrd | Published on August 26, 2026 Image: John Johnson/HBO Max Comment 0 Share New Share Image: John Johnson/HBO Max HBO’s Lanterns has, by most metrics, been a smash hit. The series that is often more True Detective than DCU has already caught quite a few people by surprise with its grounded tone, character-driven narrative, and exceptional performances. It’s slowly revealing its mythology, but if it wasn’t for the name on the box, you could almost hide the fact it’s a Green Lantern show. However, that approach hasn’t quite worked for everyone. Comics writer Grant Morrison (whose many notable works include a legendary run on the Green Lantern) has long been one of the show’s most notable critics, and previously got into a bit of a back-and-forth with Lanterns co-showrunner Damon Lindelof over the series’ creative direction. Well, Morrison has finally watched Lanterns‘ first episode and recently shared his thoughts about it on his blog. While he came away from the series with a largely mixed opinion, his central criticism of the show remains largely unchanged. “Otherwise on this outing, way too much tell, not enough show, and those comparisons to True Detective, invoking season 1 of that, show, only worked against Lanterns,” Morrison writes. “The lack of costumes and ring effects was glaring but easily explained by budgetary constraints and a desire to create some distance between this and the unsuccessful Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern film… which only begs the question of why try to make a Green Lantern show on a budget at all? DC has a ton of ‘ground level’ heroes, or characters with low level gimmick powers to choose from, so why take this low-fi route with a franchise that should be competing with Star Trek or Star Wars?” Morrison’s criticisms are, of course, ultimately his opinion, though they do bring up a few interesting talking points. Namely, the recent emphasis on ground or street level heroics (something the Spider-Man: Brand New Day team also expressed an interest in emphasizing) and the general concern that we may not get a grander and more bombastic take on The Green Lantern while Lanterns remains a hit for DC. While asking why you would make a Green Lantern show on a budget at all is a hyperbolic question, it will be interesting to see if this is the definitive live-action tonal take we get of the character in the James Gunn era for the studio. It is also, of course, worth pointing out that we’re only two episodes into Lanterns, and all signs point to the show getting much bigger and bolder as it goes on in terms of the character’s more sci-fi qualities. How far it goes in that direction remains to be seen. Besides, Morrison also had quite a few nice things to say about the show, including praise for Kyle Chandler (who Morrison says gives a very “Doctor McCoy” performance) and Aaron Pierre’s “quiet and uptight performance as John Stewart.” We’ll just have to see whether the rest of the series ultimately veers a little closer to the cosmic adventure the character is more often associated with, especially in Morrison’s own works.[end-mark] The post Grant Morrison Wants More Sci-Fi in <i>Lanterns</i>: “Why Try to Make a Green Lantern Show on a Budget?” appeared first on Reactor.