HBO’s Take on DC’s “Green Lantern” – “Lanterns” – Fills Out Cast with Addition of Nicole Ari Parker

The long-running Green Lantern comic book from DC has proven to be a rather tough nut to crack for those folks attempting to translate the four colored character from the pages of a funny book to the big or small screen. Not that Hollywood hasn’t tried over the years: From an attention-getting recurring spot courtesy of the animated adventures of The Super Friends and voice actor Michael Rye to the first live action appearance of ring-slinger Hal Jordan in 1979’s Legends of the Superheroes via the acting prowess of Howard Murphy and, more recently, the fun if not flawed Ryan Reynolds take in 2011’s Green Lantern, creative visionaries have rolled the dice numerous times on the Coast City guardian with middling results. If HBO has anything to say about it, however, the characters and mythology of the 80+ year-old franchise will finally capture a wider audience when they finally launch their long-teased television series Lanterns.

Our Alan Scott admirers over at Variety report today that the cast for HBO and DC Studio’s forthcoming series Lanterns is taking dynamic and exciting shape with the addition of And Just Like That actress Nicole Ari Parker to the ensemble. She’ll be joining a superlative cast which already includes Kyle Chandler (Hal Jordan) and Aaron Pierre (John Stewart). The role she’ll be essaying will be that of John Stewart’s mother Bernadette.

For longtime comic book nuts reading this and who might be curious where this new iteration of the Green Lantern mythos will be going, fear not, because it seems that the creatives behind the new show know their comics: The series will examine the interplay between fellow earth-bound Lanterns Hal Jordan and partner John Stewart and showcase what it means to be a part of an intergalactic body of defenders known as the Green Lantern Corps.

As for the role of Stewart’s mother, Bernadette, Parker will at least be able to stick to the scripts, as the character has never been properly introduced within the walls of the DC comics world. So, a lot of blank slate for the actress and writers to fill in as the series develops and moves forward although, per the official HBO logline of the character, she’s a pretty formidable and respected person: “Formidable and tenacious, Bernadette refuses to give up, no matter how insurmountable the odds. At her core, she’s a fiercely protective mother who has worked her entire life to ensure that she and her family will not be passed over.”

Lanterns received the- wait for it! – green light (ahem) from HBO back in June and it stands as the first live-action show which was developed for DC Studios from new co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The first season will weigh in at eight episodes, with more to follow in subsequent seasons should the ratings prove solid enough.

No release date scheduled as of yet for HBO’s Lanterns, but you can bet your Doiby Dickles cab fare that the series will drop sometime in 2025!