Ryan Reynolds Would Cameo in LANTERNS and Says He Owes GREEN LANTERN “Everything”

Ryan Reynolds may have traded his Green Lantern ring for Deadpool’s katanas a long time ago, but apparently he hasn’t completely closed the door on returning to the DC universe that helped shape his career.

It’s been 15 years since Reynolds starred as Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, the 2011 superhero movie that became one of the more infamous misfires of the comic book movie era, and Reynolds has spent plenty of time over the years poking fun at it himself.

Of course, his superhero career recovered just fine. Reynolds jumped from DC to Marvel with Deadpool in 2016, followed by Deadpool 2 in 2018 and Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024.

His future as Wade Wilson still appears wide open, even though he reportedly won’t appear in Avengers: Doomsday despite expressing interest in being involved.

For all the jokes Reynolds has made about Green Lantern, though, he doesn’t seem bitter about the movie. He’s been candid about what didn’t work while also acknowledging the good that came from it, including meeting his future wife, Blake Lively.

Now Reynolds has revealed he’d even be willing to revisit that corner of DC history with a cameo in HBO’s upcoming Lanterns series.

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Reynolds was asked whether he’d be interested in showing up in Lanterns. He responded:

“I would totally do a cameo in that. I love it. I mean, you know, I learned so much making that movie. And I know what you’re thinking.

“You’re thinking, ‘Oh, learned what not to do.’ In some, in part, yes, but also that any time you’re making something that large, there are core lessons that come of it, and I owe my entire career to that movie.

“I owe everything to that…Everything about it was like a gift that keeps on giving, and I really enjoyed the experience of making it.”

That’s a pretty great perspective considering how relentlessly Green Lantern has followed Reynolds around for the past decade and a half. He recognizes the movie’s problems, but he also sees it as an important part of the career that eventually led him to Deadpool.

The big question now is whether DC Studios would actually invite him to appear in Lanterns. A Reynolds cameo wouldn’t necessarily need to involve him playing Hal Jordan again. But regardless, I think it would just distract from the story the show is telling.

It doesn’t need a Reynolds cameo, but I love that he’s embracing his Green Lantern past.