Zack Snyder's Justice League may not have been the runaway hit that fans may have hoped for, but it did pull in some healthy numbers for HBO Max. If nothing else, the four-hour motion picture served to satisfy Snyder fans and detractors of the 2017 theatrical version of the movie.
And now, as the internet cries out to "Restore the Snyderverse" and put to film Snyder's two initially-planned Justice League sequels, Warner Bros. seems intent on moving on from Snyder's works and taking the DC films slate in a different direction.
A notable omission from the film's League roster was any version of the Green Lantern. Lanterns have been Justice League mainstays in the comics and other media for decades, with Hal Jordan making up part of the team's original line-up.
Previously, word got out that Snyder had planned to include a cameo from Green Lantern John Stewart. In the end, the studio forced him to cut it and the character was replaced by Harry Lennix as J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter who meets with Bruce Wayne in the final scene of the movie.
Additionally, concept artist Jojo Aguilar shared a piece of concept art from the film of what Stewart was meant to look like in that cameo appearance.
ZACK SNYDER TELLS ALL
In an interview with YouTube channel Justice Con , Snyder revealed that actor Wayne T. Carr was originally cast as John Stewart for Justice League .
"Yeah so Jojo [Aguilar] did that based on the actor that we used, who did the scen for us... A guy named Wayne T. Carr." Snyder explained on the topic of the GL concept art.
Snyder continues:
"I told [Carr], "Look, there's a chance that this doesn't make it in the movie. We are shooting it in my driveway."... But yeah, he's amazing and I was talking to him the other day and... he loved the movie... and he was super excited for everyone and the reception the film has gotten.
When asked about how Snyder first met Carr, Snyder responded that it was actually Cyborg actor Ray Fisher who made the introductions:
"Ray introduced me to him and said "You should check this. guy out, he's awesome. He's like this Shakespearean actor and... I looked at a bunch of his clips. I just talked to him on the phone a bunch of times. We just talked about what [the role] might be...I mean look [Shakespearean acting] is not easy stuff and when you watch him do it, I was like, okay this guy can clearly handle what I have in store for him. He did a great job."
Snyder was then asked if fans would ever get to see the Green Lantern footage shot for the Snyder Cut. Snyder laughed and then answered sharply with "I don't know."
However, Snyder did reveal.that Carr did not wear a physical costume when he filmed the sene and instead a CGI suit was applied in post-production:
"We had made him a CG suit, because it was COVID, and we couldn't really do a real suit. I mean, the mandate was to make it look as physical as possible... and I believe that what I had seen was, of course, not finished, but I was very confident that even if we were to see him again, and we had to make him a real suit, it would match exactly.
THE GREEN LANTERN APPEARANCE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN
Of course, fans were given just a taste of the full might of the Green Lantern Corps, with a quick flashback appearance of Yalan Gur and a flash forward cameo of... the dead body of Kilowog.
A full-fledged appearance by John Stewart, who would have been cast with a real flesh-and-blood actor saying actual lines, would have certainly delighted fans, but it was unfortunately not to be.
But still, there's a ton of live-action Green Lantern content in the works. Some of this is coming very soon, with the appearance of John Diggle on five of the CW's Arrowverse shows. In his most recent appearance, Diggle was seen picking up a glowing, green box that had fallen to Earth.
Zack Snyder's Justice League i s available to stream on HBO Max.
