Several actors from the cast of the disappointing Green Lantern movie are getting second chances from the DCEU. Green Lantern, a film that was clearly meant to set up a trilogy, never received a sequel, but a handful of the actors associated with it are once again playing characters in the DC Universe.
Directed by Martin Campbell and released in 2011, Green Lantern was the first live-action movie to feature the titular cosmic hero from DC Comics. Ryan Reynolds starred in the movie as the Hal Jordan incarnation of the Green Lantern. The film follows Jordan, an arrogant test pilot, after he is chosen to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps and given a Power Ring. Jordan is thrust into a conflict with a cosmic being known as Parallax and is forced to save the world. The movie also starred Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, Hal Jordan's love interest. Green Lantern received poor reviews and bombed at the box office.
Due to loose ends and unresolved plotlines, it's obvious that DC and Warner Bros. were expecting Green Lantern to spawn a new series of movies, but its failure caused these plans to be abandoned. However, some of the actors featured in Green Lantern have been brought back to play different characters from DC Comics. Sinestro actor Mark Strong played Dr. Sivana, the main villain of Shazam!, and Temuera Morrison, Green Lantern's Abin Sur, was Arthur Curry's father in Aquaman. For Morrison, both roles are relatively small parts, but are key roles because of their importance to the protagonist's origin story.
Other actors from Green Lantern have been cast in upcoming DCEU films, but their characters have not been officially released. Taika Waititi, who played the role of an engineer named Thomas Kalmaku in Green Lantern, is one of many actors in the star-studded cast of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. Peter Sarsgaard, who played the villain of Green Lantern, Hector Hammond, has been cast in an unknown role in Matt Reeves' The Batman.
Green Lantern was a one-and-done opportunity for all actors involved, but thanks to recent successes like Wonder Woman and Joker, the DCEU still has a long life ahead of it, which means that most of the recycled cast from Green Lantern can have a future in the DCEU that they never had with a Green Lantern trilogy. Based on Shazam!'s ending, it appears that Mark Strong's Dr. Sivana will be back for a sequel, and both Waititi and Sarsgaard — depending on the nature of their roles — could return for future installments of their respective franchises as well.
