‘Fans compare our crime thriller to True Detective – but we had our own thing’

When James Gunn announced Lanterns, he promised that it would be a grounded cop show in the style of True Detective.

At the time, it seemed like Gunn was simply trying to distance his burgeoning new Green Lantern project from Ryan Reynolds’ disastrous sci-fi slop-tacle.

Yet as production began, it was clear Gunn intended to keep his word, even hiring True Detective Executive Producer Chris Mundy to serve as Lanterns’ showrunner.

And when the reviews dropped, people couldn’t help but point out the shared DNA between this low-stakes superhero series and the iconic detective drama.

Even I wrote in my Lanterns review that the comparisons seemed apt; after all, it’s effectively about two cops, Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), trying to solve a murder in a small town and uncovering a wider conspiracy.

Still, there’s one person who doesn’t think the comparison is entirely fair. None other than the man playing Hal Jordan, the greatest Green Lantern ever to wear the ring, Kyle Chandler.

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‘[The] comparison’s brought up by the creators themselves,’ Kyle told Metro.

‘For my take, there are some similarities; there’s no doubt. I guess the idea is similar, but I certainly didn’t think that I was Woody Harrelson or Matthew McConaughey while we’re shooting this thing. We really had our own thing.’

And for Kyle, the thing that impressed him most wasn’t necessarily the similarities to other hit shows, or the idea of playing a superhero (in his words, ‘he’s ‘I’m a 60-year-old man. I don’t see myself running around in tights’); it was the quality of the script

‘Usually when I get scripts, instinctually there are red flags that go up. Even if it’s a good script,’ he explained.

‘Lanterns had no red flags. It had all green flags, if you will. No pun intended. It was just spectacular; I was kind of shocked.’

In fact, Kyle was so shocked he didn’t trust his own instincts and went to his wife and daughter for advice.

I gathered [his wife and daughter] together, and I said: “Listen, I just read this. Please sit down. It’s just one script of the show, and you tell me what you think.”

‘So they sat on the couch, and I sat in one of the leather chairs in the living room, and we read it, and I’m not kidding when I say that they both jumped up at the end of it, pointed at me together and said, “You have to do this.” 15 minutes later, I called [my managers], and I said, “I’m in”.

And Kyle told me he knew he’d made the right decision from the moment he stepped onto set for the first table read with his Lanters castmates.

‘After the first 10 or 15 minutes [of this read-through], you could feel the shift in the room,’ he said, smiling.

‘All of a sudden, Kelly [McDonald], Aaron, and I could all honestly tell they liked what they were hearing, and we started playing with the material on the spot, and it just got more and more exciting.

‘It was the best read-through I’ve ever sat through, and boy, were we all relieved too, I can tell you.’

After that initial meeting, however, Kyle decided it was time to get to know his co-star and the man playing Hal’s deputy John Stewart, Aaron Pierre.

‘When we left the room, Aaron was parked right next to my car on the Warner Brothers lot, and I didn’t know Aaron from Adam,’ he began.

‘So I rapped on his window; he was doing whatever on the phone or what have you, and I said, “Hey, you know, I’m really looking forward to this. There’s no reason we should not have a great time.”

‘So [Aaron] shared a few things, and he mentioned: “I’m sort of quiet on set. I’m kind of introspective. I’m a quiet person.” I remember saying, “Oh, well. I got to tell you, I’m kind of a loudmouth, and I like having fun and playing a lot of jokes.”

Kyle didn’t panic about the pair seeming like ‘exact opposites’, though. He believed that by talking and being honest with each other, they could get along, and once again his instincts proved him right.

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‘He’s a big, goofy, good actor, and I’m a goofy actor, and we just realised professionally what we had to do to open ourselves up to each other to get this relationship going, and it wasn’t much work,’ he laughed.

‘We started having fun immediately and making fun of each other…It was like two brothers meeting up after a long time and just having a great time, and that just grew throughout, and that’s the same with Kelly.

‘It was the same with all the actors. It was a very comfortable place, and you felt safe to play.’

So for all the True Detective comparisons made by critics and executives talking to Kyle made it very clear that Lanterns found its own dynamic pretty quickly.

And if you’ve seen the show, you’ll know that the brotherly bond they share makes for some incredibly entertaining television, and if they can stick the landing, I’m sure it’ll be remembered for doing its own thing.

Lanterns is streaming now on HBO Max in the US and UK, and also on NOW in the UK

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