{"id":856901,"date":"2026-08-16T04:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856901\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T04:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:22:25","slug":"the-green-lantern-nathan-fillions-unlikeable-superhero-could-be-his-greatest-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/856901\/","title":{"rendered":"The Green Lantern: Nathan Fillion\u2019s \u2018unlikeable\u2019 superhero could be his greatest hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When comic books first carved gods and monsters from cheap newsprint paper, they transformed low-quality wood pulp into invincible icons such as Superman and Batman and the terrifying villains they face. These heroic figures, like their stablemates the Flash and Aquaman, were variously otherworldly princes, noble avengers or scientific geniuses.<\/p>\n

Guy Gardner \u2013 better known as Green Lantern \u2013 had a far more earthly origin story. His childhood was brutal, at the hands of an alcoholic father. He grew up in the shadow of a more popular older brother. And his football career was derailed by injury. Created in print in the late 1960s as an aggressive hothead, he offers a uniquely offbeat take on what it means to be a superhero in 2026.<\/p>\n

\"NathanNathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner.Warner Bros<\/p>\n

\u201cAudiences are more intelligent now,\u201d says Nathan Fillion, who plays Gardner\u2019s Green Lantern in the Superman movie series<\/a> and now in the HBO Max series Lanterns. \u201cWhen I started reading comic books, they were terrible. They were a drawing of a hero describing action and story, and telling you what\u2019s happening, rather than showing you. Then, comic book stories and art started getting beautiful.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"From<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMuch in the same way, I think Batman<\/a> was darn near happy when he was invented, but now the twist is, what if that guy\u2019s not all just together there, [what if he\u2019s] psychotic? That\u2019s the reality of it. We lean into that kind of stuff, and that\u2019s very satisfying because it allows us to think we could believe in these people.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuy Gardner is less complicated. I think he\u2019s overly simplified. He has a sense of right and wrong, of good and evil. I just think if you were around Guy Gardner, you would wish he were a little smarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guy Gardner was created by John Broome and Gil Kane, first appearing in Green Lantern #59, published in March 1968. Abin Sur, one of the Green Lantern Corps \u2013 a kind of space police \u2013 crashes on earth and, dying, uses his power ring to find a successor. Eventually, he ends up with three: the more classically heroic Hal Jordan, the more strategic John Stewart, and the abrasive Guy Gardner.<\/p>\n

Fillion, revered by genre fans for his early role as Mal Reynolds in the critically revered science-fiction series Firefly, is almost cast against type as Gardner. Elsewhere \u2013 for eight years as Richard Castle on Castle, and for eight years and counting as John Nolan on The Rookie \u2013 Fillion\u2019s characters have been smart outsiders who came to their power quietly, almost as underdogs.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cBeware\u201cBeware my power… Green Lantern\u2019s light!\u201d Green Lantern Hal Jordan, voiced by Nathan Fillion, in the 2011 animated feature Green Lantern: Emerald Knights.Warner Bros\"NathanNathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds in cult sci-fi series Firefly.\"NotNot giving up his day job: Nathan Fillion stars as police officer John Nolan in The Rookie.eOne <\/p>\n

Castle was a civilian mystery novelist who shadowed police officers, while Nolan is a mature-age police department rookie starting \u2013 at least back in season one \u2013 a new career after leaving construction. Both use their perspective as outsiders in a tight space where their inexperience is viewed with scepticism as a tool for problem-solving.<\/p>\n

And both have a screen life measured in hours: 173 episodes of Castle, between 2009 and 2016, and 144 episodes of The Rookie, between 2018 and now.<\/p>\n

Gardner, in striking contrast, has a screen life still measured in minutes. In the 2025 film Superman, he was part of the still-unformed Justice League ensemble, he appeared in the spin-off series Peacemaker, and he will return, in 2027, in the new Superman film Man of Tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Our<\/a><\/p>\n

Lanterns, an eight-episode series commissioned for the streaming service HBO Max, will develop Gardner\u2019s story substantially. In it, he joins the two other Green Lanterns \u2013 Hal Jordan, played by Kyle Chandler, and John Stewart, played by Aaron Pierre. And in a substantial nod to the character\u2019s comic book origin story, the series will feature the Green Lantern Corps nemesis, Thaal Sinestro, played by Ulrich Thomsen.<\/p>\n

The journey from a life measured in minutes of screen time to hours will be illuminating, Fillion says, though perhaps not in the obvious way. \u201cWhat I try to strive for is not to change, [it] is for consistency,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause in the Superman film<\/a> we\u2019re introduced to Guy Gardner, and he has a very specific tone, but Lanterns is a very, very different tone. I thought it would be important that these two worlds exist, but this character exists as well. So I think he had to have some consistency throughout.<\/p>\n

\"KyleKyle Chandler as Green Lantern Hal Jordan in Lanterns.Warner Bros<\/p>\n

\u201cTime spent with a character is time spent witnessing their choices and being there on that journey with them. Our choices, our experiences shape who we are. So longevity inevitably leads to evolution, and taking that journey with a character is, I think, extremely satisfying for an audience member. It\u2019s an investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why an actor suits a role often lacks rhyme or reason. Chemistry plays a bit part of it \u2013 with co-stars, but also between actor and character. In Fillion\u2019s case, Gardner\u2019s dry, dislikeability is tempered by Fillion\u2019s natural charm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been very fortunate that I have been able to play characters that are extremely likable, and that comes along with a real education as to [why],\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t like a perfect character. Perfect characters don\u2019t exist. You like people because they\u2019re flawed like you and me. You like people because you get them, you can relate to them. On some level, when they fail, you say, I get it because I also have been kicked by life.<\/p>\n

\"NathanNathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner in Lanterns.Warner Bros<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there is likeability in being flawed. When it comes to someone like Guy Gardner, who is supposed to be essentially unlikeable, he doesn\u2019t contain malice, he\u2019s just cranky and difficult to be around. We all have someone like that in the family, someone you don\u2019t want to sit next to at Thanksgiving dinner. We\u2019ve all got that person. So, the secret is just playing that guy. Yeah, we get it, but he\u2019s my uncle, so he\u2019s family. He\u2019s that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Gold<\/a><\/p>\n

Fillion comes to this iteration of the DC Universe with an unusual, even immersive pedigree. He voiced another Lantern \u2013 Hal Jordan \u2013 in six animated films. But his relationship with the DC Universe<\/a> goes back to his childhood, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents were high school English teachers, and they encouraged reading, they didn\u2019t care what we read,\u201d Fillion says. \u201cSo my choice was comic books. I wasn\u2019t a collector in the beginning as far as following a series because we bought all our comic books second-hand [from the Wee Book Inn in Edmonton, Alberta], so my tastes were extremely varied.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew Guy Gardner\u2019s Green Lantern he says, but \u2013 and here\u2019s the twist in the tale \u2013 he didn\u2019t like him. \u201cI didn\u2019t see his worth back then, and I didn\u2019t know how beloved he was until I actually got this role and people started talking about Guy Gardner in a way I\u2019d never heard,\u201d Fillion says<\/p>\n

At the centre of the Green Lantern canon sits the green power ring each of them wears. In technical terms, it can do almost anything: project a force field, create tools, weapons or vehicles, translate languages and, when needed, let a Green Lantern take flight.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Pierre as Green Lantern John Stewart in Lanterns.Warner BrosEditor’s pick\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And it is recharged by reciting the Lantern Corps oath: \u201cIn brightest day, in blackest night \/ No evil shall escape my sight \/ Let those who worship evil\u2019s might \/ Beware my power… Green Lantern\u2019s light.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a prop on the set of a television series, it does possess talismanic properties, Fillion agrees. That puts it, in pop-cultural terms, alongside a lightsaber from Star Wars, The Doctor\u2019s sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who, or Wonder Woman\u2019s golden lariat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I have found interesting is, given a prop gun, there are times when you have to imitate the kick of that gun,\u201d Fillion says. \u201cGiven a blaster of sorts, you have to imbue the object with an action, the force that it reckons for you. Much the same, I had to concoct, and I think everybody who\u2019s been a Green Lantern has to feel the force of something happening, and create that effort that it comes with this physical effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the ring, as far as what it conjures, I think about the reality of it. If I had a ring like that, I would be charging it every other hour, I would never take it off. And yet, I fidget constantly, so I\u2019d take it off, and I would be so paranoid in those moments. I\u2019d be just furiously worried about it constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lanterns streams on HBO Max from August 17.<\/p>\n

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