When Lanterns was announced as a True Detective-style TV series, it was obvious that DC Studios was looking to break into prestige television and put a fresh spin on a franchise that had become the butt of many jokes after the 2011 movie.
Over the course of eight episodes, Green Lantern constructs were few and far between, as was any costumed action. In terms of space-set scenes, there were brief visits to an intergalactic prison and a barren planet, though the pink-skinned Sinestro was the closest the series came to showing a bona fide alien (the Manhunters, for example, just looked like regular humans).
Despite hints in previous interviews that the idea was to reintroduce the Green Lantern concept before blasting into space with a much bigger, bolder second season, showrunner Chris Mundy has now confirmed that the action will primarily remain on Earth if Season 2 happens.
"It’s like we’ve tossed out a lot of different things," he says in the video below when asked about a possible Lanterns Season 2. "I mean, again, we want to treat it all—you know, we won’t be back in Rushville most likely unless something crazy happens in Rushville, you know, every 10 years. But you’re going to—it’s going to be an Earth-based story that we continue most likely."
"I mean, would you—we’ve shown that you can leave the planet, so that’s good, right?" Mundy added. "But because of that, we want to make whoever’s here as sort of grounded and real as possible. Our idea was just to ground everything and then layer on the other layers."
The writer continued, "But it’s just like, okay, are you with us? Great. Now we can expand. And it’s the same thing with introducing all the other Lanterns and stuff."
While the series has hinted at potentially exploring the formation of the Sinestro Corps, for example, it sounds like fans shouldn't read too much into any apparent teases in last night's season finale. Why? Well, Mundy confirmed that while Lanterns wasn't written as a limited series, they also weren't laying the groundwork for future stories.
"We didn’t write toward platforming for our Season 2," he revealed. "We always wrote assuming there would be a Season 2, you know what I mean? We didn’t think of it as a limited series. We thought of it as this is a show that’s going to keep going on, but we were just trying by the skin of our teeth to finish this season."
"It wasn’t like, 'Oh, we’ve got a great idea for two and three, so let’s layer in.' Some of it is just, you take a look at what you made and what’s interesting to you and what’s useful and then you go from there," Mundy explained. "And hopefully you created characters that you could do different things with and put them in different situations."
While John Stewart, now Earth's protector, is set to suit up in next summer's Man of Tomorrow, it appears any future solo adventures will remain on Earth.
The finale actually established that during his conversation with Guy Gardner, and with Sinestro's story seemingly over and emotions no longer an integral part of what powers a Lantern, anyone hoping for concepts like Parallax, the Sinestro Corps, and The Spectre will likely be disappointed. After all, the finale delivered almost none of what fans were eager to see in the show's concluding chapter.
You can hear more from Mundy on the Lanterns finale in the player below. If you're looking for a full breakdown of what happened in "Dirt and Stars," we have you covered right here.