Nathan Fillion’s Confirmed 5th Green Lantern DCU Appearance Will Honor New Guy Gardner Tradition

One of the co-creators of the brand-new Lanterns TV show on HBO just revealed that Nathan Fillion's fifth appearance in the DC Universe as Guy Gardner will continue an ongoing tradition for the franchise.

Guy Gardner is one of many Green Lanterns that has appeared in the multiple screen adaptations, including Justice League of America, Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League. In James Gunn's DC Universe, the character is played by Nathan Fillion in Superman, Peacemaker and the upcoming Lanterns series and film Man of Tomorrow.

After those appearances, Guy Gardner will then show up in an animated DC series called Mister Miracle, which is being spearheaded by comic book writer and Lanterns co-creator Tom King. In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan at the show's red carpet premiere, he explained that Guy is the "connective tissue" in the DC Universe because of how many times he's appeared, and will continue to appear, in the DC Universe.

Mister Miracle is a project that King wrote 10 years ago, and as he explained it, the story is about the "recovery from trauma, about finding yourself after going through something hard, finding the love of your life and what the love of your life can mean to you and what you can mean to them." King admitted that it's the "best thing I've ever done" and he's excited about the TV adaptation.

Fillion recently joined the cast of Mister Miracle, and King explained that the fan-favorite actor is "the glue because he's a subtle actor who can be so big and so small, to be so many things to so many people." His character Guy Gardner is a major connective tissue in the DC Universe since he "can exist in all these universes. We can imagine them all connected together."

King went on to make light of the sarcastic way that Fillion speaks, to the point where he wasn't sure if he was being messed with or not. In fact, according to King, Fillion has been saying in interviews, "I've never used the word 'f***' so much." King was the one who wrote a speech in which the actor had to say the curse word "all the time." Then when he joined Mister Miracle, King told Fillion, "There's going to be some more f***s. I apologize."

"He’s going to be in my Mr Miracle show next. It’s based on maybe my favorite thing I ever wrote, Mister Miracle, a show that’s very dear to my heart. I wrote it 10 years ago. It’s a story that’s not about trauma but about the recovery from trauma, about finding yourself after going through something hard, finding the love of your life and what the love of your life can mean to you and what you can mean to them. It’s this beautiful, romantic cosmic adventure, and it’s just the best thing I’ve ever done. I couldn’t be more excited about it.

"And Nathan is the glue because he's a subtle actor who can be so big and so small, to be so many things to so many people. And he’s such a superhuman in himself. I grew up on Firefly, so he’s like Mal to me. And he is this connective tissue. This guy can exist in all these universes. We can imagine them all connected together, which is amazing.

"You’re like, is he f***ing with me or is he not f***ing with me? In many interviews, he’s saying, 'I’ve never used the word f*** so much.' And I wrote that speech where he was saying f*** all the time. So when he came on Miracle, I was like, 'There’s going to be some more f***s. I apologize.'"

King clearly has a soft spot for Fillion, and it all started back when he starred as Mal Reynolds on Firefly in 2002. After that series went off the air, Fillion went on to other TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Robot Chicken, Castle, Santa Clarita Diet, A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Rookie, and movies like Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Cars 3, The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The actor has also worked on various DC projects, including voicing the Green Lanterns character Hal Jordan, and then joined Gunn's newly rebooted DC Universe as Guy Gardner in 2025's Superman. He followed that up with a guest starring role on Peacemaker and will reprise the role in HBO's Lanterns, which premieres on August 16.

Nathan Fillion will be back on the big screen in the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, which is in theaters on July 9, 2027, before continuing the role yet again for Mister Miracle, which officially went into development last summer. No other cast members have been revealed yet, and a premiere date hasn't been announced.

Lanterns premieres Sunday, August 16 at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO and HBO Max.