It seems that the wheels are finally turning behind the scenes for Warner Brothers’ upcoming Green Lantern Corps. film. Just last week, news broke that David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight, Man of Steel) and Justin Rhodes would pen the script, and now we have a potential actor shortlist for Hal Jordan courtesy of The Wrap.
According to the new report, six names are on the list: Tom Cruise, Jake Gyllenhaal, Armie Hammer, Bradley Cooper, Joel McHale, and… Ryan Reynolds?
That’s right, TheWrap’s sources claim that Warner Bros. is still considering bringing Reynolds back to the role he made infamous in 2011’s critically panned Green Lantern, thanks to how “his superhero stock soared last year” when he starred in Deadpool. Considering he’s confirmed to play the Merc with the Mouth for the foreseeable future, and his own, very public complaints about playing Hal Jordan in the past, we’ll keep his name out of serious contention for now.
The other names are all interesting, and are some we’ve heard before. Armie Hammer was recently rumored for the role, and both Bradley Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal have been longtime fan-favorite picks for the test pilot-turned-superhero. Cooper is currently tied up with playing Rocket Raccoon in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise that will soon converge with the larger MCU in Avengers: Infinity War, so he may be too busy to take on the role of Hal. Gyllenhaal could be free, and was once a strong contender to play Batman, before the role eventually went to Ben Affleck.
The wild cards here are Cruise and McHale. Cruise has yet to star in a superhero film, but does headline big-ticket franchises like Mission: Impossible, Jack Reacher, and soon, The Mummy. McHale, on the other hand, doesn’t have much experience with big tentpole projects (unless you count the time he played a mean bank teller in Spider-Man 2). However, the Community star could be just the kind of below-the-radar choice that often ends up in big roles like this.
UDPATE: We Got This Covered is also claiming to have heard that X-Men and Westworld star James Marsden is also in contention (although it doesn’t sound like they have much faith in their own source, which doesn’t exactly instill much confidence in the report being genuine).
The studio has declined to comment on this news, so we’ll have to take it with a big emerald piece of salt for now. In the meantime, let us know if you’d like any of these actors to take the role in the comments below…
Originally published January 20, 2017. Updated April 13, 2018.
