The CW’s Arrow ended after eight seasons back in early 2020. The series finale, however, set up several plot points that, for one reason or another, were destined not to really go anywhere.
Most notable among them: Oliver Queen’s best friend and trusted confidante John Diggle opening a mysterious, green-glowing box that hurtled down to Earth from the cosmos. This was clearly intended to contain a Green Lantern ring in a tease that could be expanded upon in a future Arrowverse episode.
And indeed, the Arrowverse continued to march forward. Unfortunately, as the franchise continued over the next couple of years, it was headed towards its own slow demise.
Supergirl ended, then Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman were unceremoniously canceled. That left The Flash as the one lone player still on the board. And while Diggle ended up appearing on all these series after Arrow ended, that mysterious box was cast aside by the character in a thoroughly unsatisfying conclusion to that arc.
To add insult to injury, fans had been campaigning for John Diggle to become a Green Lantern for years, and as such, several small teases were peppered into Arrow across its run. But now, with the Arrowverse ending in 2023 with the series finale of The Flash, Diggle actor David Ramsey has offered a glimmer of hope for a more meaningful turn for him as a GL.
Ramsey Offers Lantern Hope in Superman & Lois
While The Direct was in attendance at Atlanta's Dragon Con this weekend, Arrow vet David Ramsey explained how the end to his character’s Green Lantern story arc came about in a Season 8 episode of The CW’s The Flash. He also added the storyline could be picked up on Superman & Lois, remarking “Maybe the ring is still there?”:
“It’s not resolved. Eric [Wallace] called me, showrunner of The Flash, and he had a pitch for me to end the saga, the Green Lantern Saga within the Arrowverse. And the reason why he did is because the Arrowverse was ending, right? It’s gonna end with Flash and um- all the other shows would go. And we knew, not at the time, I knew but you didn’t know yet, that Todd [Helbing] was going to reveal in Superman & Lois that the Superman & Lois-verse, if you will, exists on another planet, on a different Earth, and these characters are still alive. And the idea is perhaps there’s a world where we can explore the Flash, or maybe just Barry Allen. Maybe he is Flash, maybe he isn’t. Is Oliver Queen alive? Maybe he is. Maybe the ring is still there?“
The actor explained that Superman & Lois could serve as a springboard to launch a whole new shared DC Universe on television, much in the way that the Arrowverse did for the past decade, noting that this is ”Berlanti’s brainchild,” making reference to Greg Berlanti, the architect of the Arrowverse.
“Y’know, these questions where you can kind of- It’s almost a reboot. Superman & Lois allows us to reboot the Arrowverse in a way that we didn’t really think before. And when he revealed that, when Todd initially revealed that, there were a lot of moans and groans about “Oh, we’re no longer in the Arrowverse.” But I think it was smart. It was [Greg] Berlanti’s brainchild and I think it was smart because it allows us to grow outside of the Arrowverse, which we weren’t allowed to do. So, to answer your question is that the ring is still around. It exists in Superman & Lois, it’s been denied the same way it was in the Arrowverse, but [John Diggle] didn’t go through the same thing”
Ramsey was sure to caution, however, that none of this may end up happening, due to the very uncertain playing field in which Warner Bros. and The CW have found themselves in as of late:
“Hopefully, we get to explore some of that, but it just depends. CW was just bought, Warner Bros. was just bought. We aren’t quite sure what’s happening politically in that whole landscape, and we’ll hopefully have some of those answers soon.”
Finally, he hyped up the crowd attending the panel a little by teasing what his Green Lantern could actually be like, noting that “a really good budget” would be a necessity to bring the character to life.
“I wanna be Green Lantern with a really good budget. Because the stories are gonna be great because Greg is gonna make sure they are. Now, there is a Green Lantern story coming to HBO Max, just so you know. And I think, I think, don’t quote me on this… It is, but I think that’s exploring Guy Gardner and Jessica Cruz and some others. The big properties of Hal Jordan and John Stewart are still kind of preserved. So yes, if we had an HBO Max budget or even a bigger budget, Superman & Lois has a beautiful budget, you can see it in the show in the production value. So if we had something like that.”
Ramsey, of course, made mention of HBO Max’s live-action Green Lantern series which, as of very recently, is still very much in-development despite the major shake-up going on with Warner Bros. Discovery lately.
Lantern Fans Are Hopeful For “Brightest Days”
Ramsey’s words will hopefully instill some faith in fans that John Diggle will eventually get to don the Green Lantern power ring and suit up as the hero.
But, as he did allude to, The CW has, in fact, been sold to Nexstar who have gone on record as intending to completely revamp the network and turn it into something a much older demographic would find appeal in. Plus, the merger between WB and Discovery has resulted in a large degree of chaos for the studio, with projects being shelved left and right.
This means that even Superman & Lois could be in jeopardy. And without that show in-place, all these plans for possible spin-offs and character appearances could end up amounting to absolutely nothing.
Still, Green Lantern aficionados can still get still get their fix when the HBO Max Green Lantern Corps series finally drops. Although, this may not occur until sometime in 2024.
