Kyle Chandler might play the Green Lantern in HBO series (Why he would be the perfect fit)

Kyle Chandler may be playing an iconic DC Comics character! Here’s why he’d be a good fit for Green Lantern Hal Jordan!

Most sadly associate Green Lantern with the 2011 movie starring Ryan Reynolds. The film was such a critical and box office bomb that it shifted the DCEU direction with Reynolds himself mocking it for years. It’s too bad, as the character is more than worthy of a film. 

Introduced in 1959, Hal Jordan was a test pilot when his craft was pulled into the desert by an alien spacecraft. The pilot was Abin Sur, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force. The dying Sur gave Hal his ring, which allowed him abilities such as flying while able to create solid green constructs of almost anything Hal could think of. 

Hal used his powers well, founding the Justice League and aiding fellow Earth-based Lanterns John Stewart and Guy Gardner. A controversial 1994 storyline had Hal going mad and becoming the twisted Parallax. He later sacrificed his life to restart Earth’s sun, reborn as the powerful Spectre before being revived and once more Green Lantern. 

After years of planned reboots, the property is coming back as Lanterns, a planned HBO series from Damon Lindelof and comic book writer Tom King. The storyline plays like a classic buddy cop movie, with rookie Lantern Stewart working under legendary Lantern Hal to investigate a murder that could lead to a galactic crisis.

This ties into how Guy Gardner will appear in the planned Superman: Legacy film, played by Nathan Fillion, who had long been a fan “dream cast” for Hal. Now, per Deadline, it appears that the series is planning to cast Kyle Chandler as Hal. 

The actor broke out with the popular CBS series Early Edition before landing his iconic Emmy-winning turn as Coach Eric Taylor in the hit NBC series Friday Night Lights. He’s added more TV and movie work since then, and seeing him in this role would be great. 

Why Chandler works as Hal Jordan

Some may be surprised at Chandler as Hal, who’s long been depicted as a cocky fighter jock with a sense of humor. That's a bit different than the more straight-laced Eric Taylor. However, Chandler has shown more humor than FNL with his various roles and can capture Hal’s inventiveness using his ring.

Chandler is a believable choice for an older veteran Hal, one long used to wielding his ring and can show younger Stewart the ropes on being a Lantern. That drawl would also fit Hal, giving his words more gravitas and aiding the bond Hal and Stewart have. Chandler doesn’t have much experience with big-budget FX movies outside the Godzilla series, yet one can’t argue that he doesn’t have the talent to make Hal work. 

This works for the series, as they don’t need a huge, flashy, action-oriented star to be Hal. They can use someone with an ego yet tempered by his duties and believable as a guy who knows what he’s talking about regarding the pressures of the job. Chandler pulled that off well on FNL and his mentorship of Stewart should be a backbone of the series. There's also how he still looks young enough to be a believable figure in the fights, more than Josh Brolin, who had been considered for the role. 

There’s still more casting to be done, such as Stewart and others, before production begins. But having Chandler playing this iconic role is a great first step to Lanterns redeeming the mistakes of the 2011 movie and providing fans with another great DC Comics hero hitting the screen.