James Gunn Reveals Ryan Reynolds’ Answer To Potential ‘Green Lantern’ Return

Although Ryan Reynolds united several familiar faces in Deadpool & Wolverine, there’s one superhero not even James Gunn could convince him to revive.

The DC boss revealed that he jokingly asked Reynolds about potentially slipping on his power ring and reprising his role as the Green Lantern after taking over at DC Studios with Peter Safran in 2022.

“Ryan doesn’t give a s—,” said Gunn of the 2011 Martin Campbell-helmed DC movie on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “One of the first people I talked to after I got the job was Ryan Reynolds. I was like, ‘You coming back?!’ He’s like, ‘Get the f— out of here!’”

Reynolds’ response should come as no surprise after the credits scene of Deadpool 2 (2018) saw his titular mercenary go back in time to shoot the actor in the head before he had a chance to accept the starring role of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern.

Although Green Lantern flopped critically and commercially, with a 25% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes and $237 million at the global box office, Reynolds ultimately met wife Blake Lively on the film, so it wasn’t a total loss.

In June, HBO gave Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King‘s Green Lantern series Lanterns a series order after it was developed for Max. Mundy will serve as showrunner, and Lindelof and King will co-write the eight-part series from Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios.

Lanterns follows new recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) and Lantern legend Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.