The Arrow finale could have opened doors for John Diggle’s Green Lantern arc, but unfortunately, Warner Bros. plans were something else. Recently, co-creator Marc Guggenheim revealed a scrapped concept art featuring Diggle in a modified Green Lantern uniform made by Brie Thorpe. There was enough room for exciting comic-inspired storylines to take place if this art were to turn into reality. But now that it hasn’t, fans are curious to know the reason behind the Arrowverse Green Lantern series cancelation.
Why David Ramsey’s John Diggle Green Lantern series was never approved
According to a recent Marc Guggenheim’s Substack post, costume designer Thorpe and illustrator Keith Lau crafted two concept art pieces that feature David Ramsey’s Diggle in a Green Lantern-inspired costume. However, Guggenheim revealed that Warner Bros. and DC disapproved of both of them. Although they tried their best to persuade them, this costume never made it to reality.
Check out the concept art below:
In the Arrow finale in 2020, the creators once again teased a potential Green Lantern storyline for Diggle, but it didn’t happen. John Diggle observes a meteor crash transpiring and comes across a mysterious box. The box sparked with a green light within, which many believed to be a subtle shout-out to Green Lantern. Despite a good set-up here, Diggle joining Green Lantern Corp remained just an idea.
Earlier, Guggenheim and Ramsey had revealed that teasing the green light at the end of the Arrow finale was a “pay-off” to all fan theories around the Green Lantern (via Entertainment Weekly). However, they couldn’t reveal further, given that it would have violated their agreements with DC and Warner Bros.
“This was something that was worked out over a year ahead with DC Entertainment. We very specifically negotiated and discussed the parameters, and I feel like to say anything beyond what we have shown you would violate our agreement with DC,” said Guggenheim.
Following this, in 2023’s The Cosmic Circus interview, Ramsey addressed all the Green Lantern teases and expressed how he too wanted to play the titular superhero. Additionally, he revealed that there are more factors than his pay that led to the arc cancelation. He added, “There [are] so many things above my pay grade that happened, that you will never know, that happened behind closed doors. And that’s fine. But yeah, I think just to answer your question, it would have been great to put on the ring and put my feet into the boots of John Stewart.”
