Greg Berlanti announced development of the first Green Lantern series that led to Lanterns in October 2019.
Berlanti, a producer associated with several DC Comics television projects, announced that he was developing a Green Lantern series for HBO Max in October 2019. This early project went through major changes before becoming the current Lanterns series in the DC Universe.
The initial concept was much broader and more space-oriented. In January 2020, Berlanti described a show spanning several decades, with two Earth-based Green Lantern stories and a separate story involving the villainous Sinestro in space. The project was later redeveloped after James Gunn and Peter Safran took leadership roles at DC Studios.
The current series focuses on Hal Jordan and John Stewart and uses an Earth-based detective format. Therefore, October 2019 marks the beginning of the television project’s public development, not the announcement of the current cast or the current creative team. Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King later became the creators of the present version.