LANTERNS Co-Creator Damon Lindelof Apologizes for Saying “Green was Stupid”

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Bringing the Green Lantern to the big and small screen has always been difficult. Many fans still remember the poorly received 2011 movie starring Ryan Reynolds, which Reynolds himself jokes about. When HBO announced Lanterns, a new take on the character aiming for a more realistic feel, it generated excitement. However, the trailer didn’t quite deliver, especially since it lacked the vibrant green color fans associate with the Green Lantern. This brought back a comment made by co-creator Damon Lindelof last year, where he called the color green “stupid,” causing an uproar among fans. He has now issued an apology for the statement on Instagram.

As a big DC fan, I’ve been following the news about the upcoming Lanterns series with a lot of interest. I heard a funny story about how the show got its name – apparently, Damon Lindelof, one of the co-runners, joked on a podcast that they dropped the ‘Green’ from ‘Green Lantern’ because everyone thought it was a silly name! That didn’t exactly go over well with the Green Lantern fanbase, and when the first teaser trailer came out and didn’t feature much green, a lot of us started to worry that the show wouldn’t really capture the spirit of the comics we love.

A year after the statement originally caused controversy, acclaimed Green Lantern comic book writer Grant Morrison shared their thoughts on Sunday, March 15th.

Despite comments from writer/producer Damon Lindelof, calling the ‘Green Lantern’ concept ‘stupid’ doesn’t make sense. Why would a writer work on a project he considers fundamentally flawed? It seems like an unnecessary dismissal of established superhero tropes. Ultimately, the people most invested in the upcoming ‘Lanterns’ TV series are Green Lantern fans, and starting off by insulting the source material feels like a misstep, according to writer Grant Morrison in a Substack post.

Lindelof issued a heartfelt apology on Instagram a couple of days later on March 17.

He admitted to offending Grant Morrison, and jokingly lamented that this likely meant he’d also upset most of the talented British and Scottish comic book writers he admired growing up.

Okay, so I messed up. I told a silly joke on a podcast, and honestly, it wasn’t my brightest moment. I’m not going to try and explain it away or hide behind details. The joke itself was just…not good. But the people who enjoy the thing I was joking about? They’re amazing, and they deserve better. I really need to apologize and be honest about how I actually feel about it all.

It seems Lindelof really likes the color green, and we can expect to see it featured in the upcoming show. We’re hoping for a lot of it! The show, Lanterns, is scheduled to be released in August.

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2026-03-17 21:03