HBO Max delighted fans with the announcement that a Green Lantern series is on the way. While there isn't much information about the show or when it will be officially released, producer Greg Berlanti promised that it would be the "biggest DC show ever made."
The news must be music to the ears of the Emerald Knight's fans. After all, there's been talk of a Green Lantern Corps film for ages now, but that's more than likely a casualty of Warner Bros.' shake-up at DC films. At the same time, Arrow has teased its own version of the character in the form of John Diggle, as portrayed by actor David Ramsey.
Since his debut in the first season of the show, Diggle has become a fan favorite character, even taking up the Green Arrow mantle from Oliver Queen for a short period of time. As he developed, fans couldn't help but notice a similarity between Diggle and a certain Green Lantern's personality.
It turns out the showrunners thought so too (or they listened to the fanbase), as teases of Diggle becoming John Stewart's Emerald Knight sporadically appeared throughout the show. A major reference dropped in 2018's "Elseworlds" crossover, when Barry Allen from Earth-90 informed Diggle that he was a Lantern in his universe.
To his credit, Ramsey hasn't shied away from the topic either, discussing the politics of Diggle becoming the Green Lantern in the Arrowverse. In a recent interview, however, he spoke about the possibility of it happening with more optimism than before.
"Ultimately, I think we have to find out what's going on with Green Lantern," Ramsey said. "We've been teasing that since Season 2 or 3. It's been a crazy amount of time, so we have to put a button on that, and from what I'm hearing, we will."
While the Diggle-Stewart connection deserves resolution and will probably get it during the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event, HBO Max's Green Lantern puts an end to any chance of Ramsey leading his own show in the future. He might get a nice sendoff in the crossover, but that's where it'll end.
Look, it is possible that Ramsey could be a part of the new Green Lantern series, especially since Berlanti is a producer on the show; however, history isn't in his favor. The DC Universe's shows, which Berlanti is also a part of, haven't connected to The CW's Arrowverse, so the chances are the HBO Max's series will follow suit.
It's disappointing, really. Considering Arrow is coming to an end, the one person who deserves their own spinoff show is Ramsey. When the series hit its lowest points and several main cast members left, he remained the one reliable constant through the turbulence. If anything, he deserves his big moment as a major DC hero purely as restitution for being forced to wear that stupid Magneto rip-off helmet for the past few seasons.
There's been a lot of focus on the Arrow spinoff Green Arrow and the Canaries, but it's the wrong focus. Quite simply, The CW should've fought harder for the Green Lantern rights. Now, the ball is in HBO Max's court, and Diggle won't get his chance to shine in the brightest day and darkest night.