The DCU Lanterns series has cast Ulrich Thomsen as Sinestro, described by the trades as a super villain.
Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen is known for a plethora of projects including The Blacklist, Counterpart, The Thing, and lots more.
The 61-year-old Thomsen joins Kyle Chandler as Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as Green Lantern John Stewart. Also starring includes Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry, Garret Dillahunt as modern cowboy William Macon, and the trades seemingly confirm Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe, a potential love interest for John, which was first revealed in casting calls.
Sinestro a surprise?
News of Sinestro being featured in Lanterns comes as a bit of a surprise, given that the series is known to be set on Earth. Descriptions of the show suggest that Jordan and Stewart are investigating a murder in the American heartland (for some reason). Perhaps Sinestro is responsible, follows them, or appears early in the series in a space-based storyline before Jordan and Stewart return to Earth. James Gunn has also hinted that the big bad of Lanterns might tie into the larger DCU. Could it be Sinestro?
In the comics—and as depicted in the 2011 Green Lantern movie where Sinestro was played by Mark Strong—Sinestro was initially a member of the Green Lantern Corps who mentored and trained Hal Jordan. However, he eventually became the leader of the Sinestro Corps, wielding yellow rings powered by fear, in contrast to the Green Lantern rings, which are powered by willpower. If Sinestro is indeed a super villain in Lanterns, it’s likely he’s already wearing the Yellow Ring and suit.
If the Green Lantern movie had received a sequel, Sinestro as a Yellow Lantern would have been a major focus, as the post-credits scene reveals him acquiring the yellow ring. Similarly, the canceled Green Lantern HBO Max series, developed by Seth Grahame-Smith, Greg Berlanti, and Marc Guggenheim, was also planned to feature Sinestro.
Very grounded series
Chris Mundy is the showrunner with the series written by Damon Lindelof and Tom King.
“Chris, Damon, and Tom have put this thing together. It’s another project that’s been blessed from the beginning,” explained Gunn at the recent NYCC. “It’s something when we first started the DCU, in the first couple weeks of heading this up, we got together with a group of of writers, and Tom King was one of those writers.”
Gunn continued, “And we were in this room, and we came up with sort of this concept for Lanterns, and then we got Chris and Damon involved, and it just kind of has come out very easily, very naturally, it’s a much more — it’s a very grounded series, a very real series which is strange to say in a Green Lantern show but it’s going to be something like nobody’s ever seen before, and I can’t wait for people to catch it on HBO when it comes out.”
