Yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day and, coincidentally, also brought the latest development in a controversy regarding the color green. And the word “green.” And the lack of the word “green,” for that matter. Damon Lindelof, co-creator of the upcoming DC Studios series Lanterns, spoke out on social media after comments he made a year ago caught the ire of legendary comics writer Grant Morrison, who penned a much-loved 2018-2021 run for the Green Lantern character.
Here’s what happened, briefly. In 2025, Lindelof, an Emmy winner known for his work on Lost, Watchmen, The Leftovers, and Mrs. Davis, was a guest on the podcast Lovett or Leave It. About 10 minutes in, he’s asked by the host about his then-newly announced Green Lantern TV show.
Lindelof says, “It’s called Lanterns because we all agreed that the ‘green’ was stupid. So now it’s just Lanterns.” Then he laughs. It’s a very unserious moment, and the conversation quickly moves on.
On March 4, a Lanterns trailer arrived from HBO Max, giving fans a first look at the show’s grounded tone, murder-mystery-in-a-small-town story, and a color palette that favors dusty grays and browns. A non-traditional comic-book hero approach, in other words.
On March 15, Morrison took to their Substack to offer some opinions on Lanterns and Lindelof’s recently resurfaced comments about the color green. It’s part of a long entry addressing many topics, but the part about Lanterns is:
“TV writer/producer Damon Lindelof’s comments notwithstanding, the ‘Green’ in ‘Green Lantern(s)’ green is not ‘stupid’. Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’? You don’t hand CSI scripts to [patronizing] writers who condemn forensics experts and their haircuts as ‘stupid’, so why hire people who are ashamed and in denial about the comic book material they’ve been assigned to develop? Why don’t they turn down jobs they’re not suited for? It’s not like he needs the money, and Lindelof has proven that he can come up with his own ideas. What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway? Does Lindelof imagine it makes him seem less nerdy? It’s a bit too late for that, so what’s it all about? The only people who give a fuck about the Lanterns TV series are Green Lantern fans. Why alienate them at the start? That feels more like ‘stupid’.”
Then, they wrote, “‘Green Lanterns’ is a much more evocative and dramatic title than ‘Lanterns’, (just as ‘Raise the Red Lantern’ is a better movie title than ‘Raise the Lantern’), and anyone who can’t grasp why that is shouldn’t be anywhere near superhero stories. The show might even be good, but how much better could this stuff be if studios were willing to hire the right people for the job instead of phoning their embarrassed friends to water the source material down? Hollywood will die of insularity and inbreeding.”
News of this reaction clearly got back to Lindelof. He issued a response on social media, complete with a photo of his younger self wearing a familiar-looking green T-shirt.
“I have upset Grant Morrison, which means I have now pissed off MOST of the brilliant British/Scottish comics writers that I grew up idolizing. To quote the bard (Otis Redding), this is nobody’s fault but mine.
I made a dumb joke on a comedy podcast. I’m not going to bob and weave about context, the joke was dumb, the fandom is not. I owe them an explanation and a genuine reflection of my actual feelings.
“The very first time I appeared on a ComicCon panel was for the Lost pilot, back in the summer of 2004. I wore my favorite T-shirt as I had long grown out of my favorite underoos, those being the uniform of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814. For a quiet, uncoordinated kid, there was nothing cooler than a hero whose superpower was his imagination. And green is not stupid, it is my lifelong favorite color and I have a questionnaire that I filled out in third grade to prove it. Green is fucking awesome.
More importantly, it would be a betrayal to everyone I worked for and alongside to say anything other than I was absolutely honored to be a part of the team that manifested the incredible construct that is Lanterns … because it was. I was sloppy and careless with my words, ironic considering I care so much about Hal, John and the entire Corps. I can and will do better to be worthy of the oath … until then, I’ll let the show speak for itself and I can’t wait for you all to hear what it has to say.”
Green is Lindelof’s lifelong favorite color, and he has the receipts. If Morrison has anything to say after this very earnest acknowledgement of wrongdoing, we’ll certainly update. Lanterns hits HBO Max in August.
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